^ 



r 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS, 



BEING 



)eIf-P«sings ^m i\t §Mu Wiill 



B y 



REV. R. WHITTINGHAM, Jr 



" Ecclesia est corpus viviim, in qua est anima et corpus. Anitna, significat 
interna dona Spiritus Sancti ; corpus vero, externam fidei professionem, et sacra- 
mentorum communionem." 

S. Aus^. Brev. Coll. 3. 



DANA AND COMPANY^ 

No. 381 Broadway. 

1856. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, 

BYPUDNEY & EUSSELL, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern 
District of New-York. 



/ 9KEW THEOLOGiUAL '■-.. 

mmmkm mmm 



{ ^OKVHDXaai'yai,^^^, 



imn 



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OF A MOTHER PRECIOUS TO lllM, 

AS THE SOURCE 

4 

d OF ALMOST EVERY EARTHLY GOOD, 

THISVOLUMEISDEDICATED, 

BY HER LOVING SON. 



7^ 






"And hardly do we guess aright at things which are upou earth, and with 
labor do we find the things which are before us : but the things which are in 
Heaven, who hath searched out ? And Thy counsel who hath known, except 
Thou give wisdom, and send Thy Holy Spirit from above ? For so the ways oi 
them which lived on the earth were reformed, and men were taught the things 
that are pleasing unto Thee, and were saved through wisdom." 

Wisdom, X., 16, 17, 18. 



PREFACE 



The purpose and design of this volume will 
need explanation. Tlie position which it may 
assume, and the claims which it may assert, are 
evidently uncertain. Is it for instruction or 
amusement? Does it seek to teach or entertain? 
Is it argumentative or dictative ? Much depends 
upon this point being satisfactorily cleared up, in 
order to settle the question of the value of the 
volume. 

I would then, dear reader, answer these 
questions by saying, that it is neither, solely— 
and either, as may be. If the process of thought 
wrought out in these pages should carry con- 
viction with it, then it is most satisfactorily argu- 
mentative ; if not, it does not seek to assert. 



VI PKEFACE. 

uphold, or maintain. Blame not the volume for 
its weakness, inasmuch as it does not profess to 
be strong". So too, if the mode in which the 
thoughts are presented, be sufficiently attractive 
to draw the eye and mind from page to page, 
then is it satisfactorily entertaining ; if not, still 
it has not failed of all its purpose. Blame not 
the volume for its dulness, inasmuch as it does 
not profess to amuse. 

But if, to the mind seriously anxious to know 
how truth may bless its Heart and Home — ^wish- 
ing to see how light can shine upon all the 
confused relations, and fierce contradiction so rife 
around it — seeking calm, not contention ; simple 
outlinings of God's will, and not controversy 
concerning it ; if, to such, these pages are lack- 
ing in either interest or instruction; then they 
fail indeed in their design, and the fault rests 
with them. Blame, then, this volume, for its 
weakness and short coming, in setting forward 
the pure and beautiful truth of God, the only 
true hope of the real happiness of the Home ! 



PREFACE. Vll 

That truth can alone be the support of what 
has been written. If these pages shall be of 
any benefit to those for whom they are in- 
tended, it must come alone from the benedic- 
tion of that Spieit without whom nothing is 
strong, nothing holy; and to that Spirit with 
the Father and the Son, be all the glory 
and the praise. 



CONTENTS. 



HEART TRUTHS. 

Page. 

SOLILOQUY L 

Doubt 13 

SOLILOQUY II. 

Truth 21 

SOLILOQUY III. 

Truth Located 37 

SOLILOQUY IV. 

Nature of the Church 49 

SOLILOQUY V. 

Characteristics of the Church 65 

SOLILOQUY VI. 

Initiation into Truth 89 



X CONTENTS. 

SOLILOQUY VIL ^''°'' 

Bread of Truth 109 

SOLILOQUY VIII. 

Communion of Saints 125 



HOME TRUTHS. 

SOLILOQUY I. 

Home , 141 

SOLILOQUY II. 

Distinctive Features 151 

SOLILOQUY III. 

Organization of the Home 163 



SOLILOQUY IV. 

Children of the Home 175 



I. 



HEART TRUTHS. 



HEART AID HOME TRUTHS. 



SOLILOQUY I 



DOUBT. 

I AM sitting by the open window. It is the close of a 
warm autumn evening. The brown glow of the sunset 
glory has all faded out of the western horizon. The only 
renmant of past beauty, is that silvery whiteness which 
seems to ripple over the blue serene of the deepening vault 
of heaven ; concentrating to a line of distinct light, against 
the dark brow of the opposite hill. The soft silence of 
nature comes up upon my heart, and the mighty repose 
of the works of God makes an echo of silence in my 
breast. 

In this waning light, a fair view lies spread out before 
me. My eye rests upon a picturesque valley, threaded by 
a silvery winding stream. It is bounded by high and half- 
clothed hills, down whose shaggy sides the darkness is now 
creeping in stealthy but sure advances. Rural sounds 
alone float upon the still repose ; rural sights alone steal 

1 



14 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

upon the eye. It is the harmony of Nature, making music 
in my heart, and reverberating in full diapason the com" 
wendation of the Maker, as first given—" Very good !" 

As I gaze outward, and breathe the bracing autumn air, 
wafting on my cheek like a messenger of health and 
strength, the shadows fall yet more densely upon valley 
and upon hill. Darkness begins to settle down, indeed, 
until an uncertain line of dusky blue alone distinguishes the 
brow of the opposite hill, and an occasional broken shimmer 
in the depth of the valley, betrays the existence of the 
rippling stream lying at my feet. One by one, red sparks 
of light twinkle out from scattered cottages, glowing and 
brightening in the gloom — catching the eye with a heavy 
glance of sullen splendor — of the earth, earthy. Soon, these 
shine out alone upon my eye ; and thick and heavy upon 
the bosom of earth is wrapped her night-mantle of dark- 
ness ; over all, spread her covering of repose. How still ! 
how calm ! how suggestive of the eternity of God ! 
What a reminder of the Omnipotent Father ! 

So, when I look upon earth. This the emotion, as I peer 
through the darkness, and think of the mighty, rushing 
world upon which I stand; and which, beneath my gaze, 
so still, so calm, is working out the Father's will ! This 
morld, utterly regardless of the specks of mortality upon 
its surface, so tremendously manifesting its mute submis- 
sion to the omnipotent law. Strange, to think that that 
law is simply His will ! Most strange, to think that the 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 15 

whole motive power to this gigantic progression, is solely 
the action of that Divine mind ! Solely the operation of 
that almighty will in Him, who said, " Let it be so ; and 
it was so."* 

Therefore it is that in this thick darkness, and in the 
very sound of silence, I think I heal: the rushing of this 
rolling globe. As I listen to the beating of my heart, T 
fancy that I detect the moving steps of that obedient 
sfervant of the Almighty, the unconscious earth, fulfilling 
His pleasure. Oh ! then, how vividly comes before me 
the insignificance of my personal existence, the littleness 
of my own dust-begotten career ! How painfully is 
pressed upon my heart the vastness of that universe, to 
which I am as nothing — and the infinite, boundless ma- 
jesty of Him, to whom even that is less than nothing! 
How agonizingly anxious is the emotion filling my be- 
wildered mind, as I look upward toward that Great 
Divine, and remember the cry, " Oh ! earth — earth-d- 
earth— hear the Word of the Lord !"t 

How my soul goes forth toward that Great Divine ; and, 
as the heavy tears of a pain-freighted humility crowd to 
my eyes, I look with eager gaze into the deep vault of 
heaven. There, I behold blazing firmament, shining 
worlds, rejoicing stars, in the illimitable space ; and I 
think of Him, who is "God over all, blessed for ever- 
more," and bow my head and worship. Then, again, my 

* Gen., i. 7. t Jerem., xxii. 29. 



16 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

thoughts revert to earth. I ponder upon the mystery of 
a Revealed Will — a God made flesh — a dying source of 
life — a crucified yet risen Lord — a covenant of mercy — 
a promise of eternal life ; and I find the marvels of the 
heavens are all eclipsed. If wonder filled my soul before, 
how is it now overwhelmed in amazement deep and high ; 
and with the Apostle, I exclaim aloud, in words piercing 
on the heavy night, " Oh ! the depth of the riches, both of 
the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable 
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out !''* 

Are they past finding out ? That is the question which 
I put to myself, after a moment's pause. I do not mean, 
in their fullness. Of course, I feel that is a mere mock- 
ery to attempt. But am 1 left, poor, feeble mortal, in a 
moral darkness greater than this night upon which I look, 
only to wonder and be amazed ? Can it be, that dis- 
closure of my Maker's wisdom and His will are only, 
like the flashing planets upon which I gaze, to render 
deeper the gloom which hangs below ? Must it be, that, 
while I wonder and adore, that knowledge gives me 
nothing more ! Oh ! my heart — no ! I cannot, indeed, 
by searching, find out God ; but sure I am that, some 
way, I may come closer to Himself ; and, while the 
revelation of His Mercy and His w^ill are both to me 
unfathomable, there is — (I feel it — know it) — there is a 
way by which I can '' know Thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."t 

* Rom., xl. 33. t St. John, xvii. 3. 



I 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 17 

And yet, what do I see in the moral and spiritual 
world, as I glance around ? What do I find of such 
knowledge, among my fellow men ? Alas ! if this re- 
vealed will — this communicated wisdom of our God — does 
convey a knowledge of Him, intended to disperse the 
gloom of ignorance, why can I not behold its power? 
Among so many millions who receive that Word, what in- 
dications do I find of nearness unto Him, or union with 
that mind Divine ? Dissension, difference, strife, contra- 
diction, mark all their views ; and contradiction and dis- 
agreement are the common results of reference to His 
Holy Word. Is there any guide ? Can some man 
teach me ? Is all around my soul as dark as now 
around my body ? Is all a false, delusive glow ? and 
that revealed will as confused a mystery to my mind, as 
the firmament in marvellous wonder to my thoughts ? 

My heart aches. I am confused. I long after God. 
My soul doth thirst for Him. The greatness of His glory 
has come up upon my soul, and I long to adore. Yet, 
alas ! as it was with Abraham at the evening time, a 
thick darkness falls upon me, and a horror. Temptation 
assails me, and I shudder to feel a doubt. Is there a 
God at all ? Can that be true which yields no truth ? 
If that Revelation is God's, indeed, must it not be for 
light ? Yet, I behold darkness. I know my indignant 
brain refuses to do aught but declare that conflicting 
and contradictory creeds cannot be all in the right. All 



18 HEAET AND HOME TflUTHS. 

cannot be true to unravel the mysteries of God. The 
whirl and the strife of the almost numberless phantasies 
built upon that Holy Word is, must he, wrong — darkness 
deepened^gloom thickened — night blackened. This is 
all they do for searching out my God ; and as I look upon 
them I sigh, and exclaim, " Blind leaders of the blind ! 
What shall I do among so many ?" 

Stay! What is that? Oh, beautiful! Oh, bright! 
Clear across the throbbing sky, I see a flashing meteor 
shine! With an almost audible rush, it has described 
its track from one side this valley's limit to the other. It 
put out the stars. It dimly lighted up hill and dale. I 
saw something by its brief power; but it went out and 
perished, and the scene is darker than before. Is that an 
emblem of my thoughts ? It might appear so. A most 
fit resemblance of those different creeds upon which I 
was meditating. Just so wild, uncertain, brief. They 
give a little light a little while. They clear up some 
mystery surrounding that Eternal Mind, in their own 
color, for a season ; and then leave the mental eye darker 
than before, when they are extinguished. Even so the 
mind, which, having sought to explore the mystery of 
the Eternal Throne by that ephemeral light, has seen it 
perish, and so come into the utter darkness of unbelief 
and scorn. 

Let it not be so with me, my God ! Oh ! Thou far, 
far removed, and yet most nigh, leave me not thus alone! 



IIEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. l9 

Up through the stil], darii night, I lift my heart unto 
Thee ; and, as I trace Thy hand in all those quivering 
worlds, I long, in blind wonder, after Thee. My spirit 
feels after Thee, not far from every one of us. Shed 
light upon my mental darkness. Give me the under- 
standing of Thy Holy Word. I believe that Word to be 
the revelation of Thyself. What, then, is its true light ? 
How can I be brought near and united unto Thee, finding 
the mystery of Redemption sealed, in the pledge of my 
eternal life. 

Is that an answer to my prayer ! Far over the distant 
woodland hill there comes a pure, soft, swelling light. I 
see distinctly each separate clump of trees standing 
darkly out against the glow ; while sharp and bold, each 
rise and fall of the hill is relieved. How mellow and rich 
is that creamy light ! It is increasing fast. I discern 
the outline of the valley. The cottage tapers dim. The 
white dwellings begin to be distinguished. Steady, sure, 
rapid, is the progress of that glow. Now, I see a golden 
disk looming up from behind the hill ; and bright, beautiful, 
glorious, the full — no, almost full — moon appears. Now, 
valley, shine ! Now, bubbling stream, sparkle as with a 
thousand diamonds ! Now, cottage, tree, hill, field, reflect 
those soft, bright rays, for darkness is all fled away. 

Oh ! thou creature of my God, emblem of the truth, 
may I learn from thee ! Creation of the Father's hand, 
be thou an emblem of the Father's will. Divine art thou, 



20 HEART AIS^D HOME TRUTHS. 

as the work of His creative hand ; constant art thou, in 
the unfaiUng performance of His pleasure. One art 
thou, in the persistent reproduction of the same phases 
which He first appointed as thy law of good. Let me 
find this the test of Thy truth, as given by our God — a 
witness of Him, one, constant and divine. 

Oh ! can I find this in the mental world ? May 1 
discover there, such a testimony to the Revealed Will 
of God, shedding a like light upon the mystery of that 
Word. Is there any such guide of Truth reflecting 
the light of the Sun of Righteousness, and pouring upon the 
darkness of the soul, just such a sufficing flood of glory, 
drawn from Him who is the Way, Truth and Life ?"* 

Be this my earnest search ! O moon ! I must leave 
thee now ; but each night will I come beneath thy beams, 
to study out this image. Throwing aside the claims 
of conflictino^ creeds, as theirs, I will seek heart-truth 
under the characteristics which must be hers — the 
Truth — one, constant, and Divine. 

* John, xiv. 6. 



SOLILOQUY IL 



TRUTH. 

I AM beforehand to-night. The moon is not yet risen, 
and yet I hear the factory bell ring out half-past seven. 
Never mind, I can v^^ait, it v^ill not be long. It is one 
blessed fact that the works of God are sure, very sure. 
Whatever is His, really His, will not disappoint us. We 
may rely upon it confidently. All that is Divine is 
unchangeable and persistent, so long as His wnll appoints 
it. I know that the bright-faced moon will come to-night, 
because it is the work of God. Till she comes, let me 
reflect and take up what I left last night, the earnest 
searching of the Truth of God — the guide of our under- 
standing in the Revealed Word. 

Truth — well, after all, it is only a term. I m.ay call 
this true and that true ; style this Truth, or that Truth, 
but it will not make it so. I must reach its reahty — and 
so what is Truth ? 

By-the-by, that was the question of Pilate. He once 
asked, at a fearful hour, " What is Truth ?" * Poor man, 

* St. John, xviii. 38. 
1* 



22 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

I doubt not he was in darkness, and wholly perplexed. 
I can well imagine how utterly bewildered he was, 
between the lofty claims of his prisoner, and the blood- 
thirsty accusations of that prisoner's enemies. His heart 
goes with the prisoner, his necessity with the prisoner's 
enemies. It was a most unfortunate position to learn 
the Truth. A divided heart can seldom see clearly. It 
had been better to have doubted both, and questioned 
each. The result of that division in heart was, that when 
he had asked the question, he " straightway went out ;" * 
left the only One who could have answered it, who was 
Himself "the Way, Truth, and Life;" and turned to the 
enemies who knew nothing. Neither does he satisfy 
them when he comes there, for all he can say to them 
is the unwelcome declaration, ''I find no fault in 
Him." t 

Poor heart-divided Pilate, I pity you, and the hundreds 
of whom you are type ; " ever learning, and never able to 
come to the knowledge of the Truth." J Alas ! how 
many they are, who, with divided heart, ask the same 
question — what is Truth ? and yet, because their desires 
go one way and their convictions another, turn resolutely 
away from the teachings of God's Word, and listen not to 
its answer. This 1 would seek to avoid for myself Let 
me be willing to bow submissively to all that can bring 
the marks of Truth, which is of God. 

* gt. John, xviii. 38. f Ibid. t 2 Timothy, iii. 7. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 23 

It has often surprised me, that the great majority of 
persons, whatever be their rehgious professions, remain so 
heedless of this momentous question. I find a great many 
who embrace guides for the understanding of the Divine 
will, simply upon the ground of their personal preferences. 
A man prefers such a system of religious faith, and then 
embraces it. Another prefers an opposite, and embraces 
it. Now, which is right ? I cannot tell, for both may 
be very sincere in their preferences. And yet it is as 
plain to me, looking at them both from a mediate point, 
that one or other must he wrong. They are contradictory. 
I should say both are wrong. In the understanding of 
religious Truth, preference can have but little power; the 
question — what is Truth ? must be asked and answered in 
a different way from Pilate's interrogatory. 

But there comes the bright, beautiful moon ! True to 
the everlasting covenant, she warns me against these 
desultory thoughts. I am to ponder over that of which 
she is the type- — the bright, ever-burning Truth of God; 
and with humble beseeching of His spirit, learn from 
His Word that Truth which may be my guide to eternal 
life. 

Let me consider. I had advanced something in the 
question last night, for I had learned by the emblem of 
that bright planet, that Truth must be One, Constant, and 
Divine — is this so ? 

}st, I say it must be Divine, that is, the nature, as well 



24 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

as of the nature of God. In the book of Deuteronomy, 1 
know the Almighty is spoken of as being a " rock, His work 
perfect, His way judgment, and the God of Truth."* 
So that wherever there is Truth, there is something 
Divine, resembling and partaking of the nature of God, a 
portion of His all-providing Spirit, in harmony with Him ; 
and on the other hand, whatever is lacking in Truth is 
deficient in that — harmony, nature, and spirit. It is foreign 
to His counsel — opposed to His will. From this I infer, 
that the first position characteristic of Truth, is its Divine 
nature. 

Now if God be the God of Truth, and Truth of every 
kind in harmony with Him, I can clearly see that the 
first point is a necessary one, that is, the unity of its 
nature ; oneness in a complete, unbroken consistency. 
For, if Truth be indeed Divine, it must, like Him, be 
unchangeable, the same in every place, and upon all occa- 
sions. Such is the nature of God, as the Prophet 
Malachi says, "I am the Lord, I change not."| There 
is ]Q0 change in the Almighty for this very cause, that he 
is the God of Truth, and it is that Truth which preserves 
the unity of the Divine nature. Evidently, then, if the 
unity of His nature is dependent upon the attribute of 
Truth, what I am to understand by this term, must be 
essentially unchangeable as rendering Him so. From this 
I conclude, that whatever is Truth now, must always 

* Peuteronomy, xxxii, 4. t Malachi, iii. 6, 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 25 

have been so, and must ever continue so, in all positions, 
under all circumstances. It must possess unity with itself. 
There can be no such thing as Truth and difference com- 
bined. If two things are true of the same nature and the 
same subject, they must agree with each other. Does it 
follow that they must necessarily be alike ? No — I can- 
not see this. By no means. The more I think of it, the 
more distinct it becomes that resemhlance is not neces- 
sary. The form may depend upon circumstances ; the 
reality alone must be in agreement. That is to say, that 
although they may not in manifestation resemble each 
other, they cannot contradict or run contrary to each 
other. There must be unity of reality between them. 

Now comes the other feature that presented itself to 
me ; that is, the Constancy of Truth. But what do I mean 
by constancy ? I think I know how many would call it, 
and by a less lenient name — Intolerance. Ah ! thou ugly 
painted fiend ! Intolerance, eldest daughter of bitter 
bigotry, own sister to red-eyed cruelty, can it be that thou 
hast any relation to the Truth ? So I know many would 
term my third characteristic, and for my constancy, they 
would maliciously read intolerance. But I deny it. I 
confess there is a connection, but only such as lies in the 
base prostitution of a just emotion — the Devil's tempering 
of a Heavenly weapon. By constant, I mean unyielding 
and unbending; the bold and firm resistance to un- 
truth; and antagonism to error and falsehood. Nor do 



26 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

I see how I can avoid this conclusion if my first thoughts 
were right. If Truth (bright-eyed maid !) be indeed 
Divine, and One, she must, of necessity, be constant in 
her opposition to the untrue. She must be irreconcilable 
with, and opposed to, that which is false. Whatever is 
true in such sense, cannot fail to be antagonistic to all that 
is false, even as I remember the Apostle St. John saith, 
" I have not written unto you because ye know not the 
Truth ; but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the 
Truth." * 

Now let me ponder this a moment before I go further, 
or approach the Word of God. Let me see what I have 
settled upon : — Three characteristics of Truth, as general 
and wide spreading necessities. I am satisfied that Truth, 
and anything that is true, must be of Divine character, 
i. e., be agreeable to God's Truth ; must be Constant in 
its testimony, i. e., the same through all time, agreeing 
with itself; must be Persistent in its bearing, i. e., denying 
and opposing all that is false. From all which I conclude, 
that any doctrine or system of religion, designed to throw 
light upon the word of God, must present clearly and 
unmistakably these characteristics. 

Now, let me turn to that Holy Word — that awful record 
of Divine condescension. Can I gain any light upon those 
topics which last night so confused me ? I hope so. I 

* 1 John, ii. 21. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 27 

know now how I may test the Truth, and that may be my 
guide. 

The first thing which strikes me, as I look at the word 
of Truth, is the remarkable fact, that in it, the Gospel 
scheme is called by this title, "the Truth." So the 
Redeemer Himself declares, " I am the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life ;" * and St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Gala- 
tians, spoke the same language, when he prayed that ''the 
Truth of the Gospel might continue with them."t To 
the same effect was his lamentation, "when I saw that 
they walked not according to the Truth." J And I re- 
member well that beautiful passage of the beloved disciple, 
" And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and 
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and Truth." § There is, there- 
fore, evidently a claim set up for the Gospel scheme, that 
it is the Truth of God, and in some way a manifestation 
of Truth. 

A good idea now occurs to me. Here I may find a 
double test. I can now try the justness of my character- 
istics. I see that the Gospel scheme claims to be the 
Truth of God, the communicated Truth of Himself. As 
I believe the sacred volume to be indeed the Word of God, 
I am of course prepared to accept this ; and so, if my 
characteristics of Truth are just, I shall find them borne 

* St. John, xiv. 6. f Gal. ii. 5. X Gal. ii. 14. 

ij St. John, i. 14. 



28 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

out by the Gospel scheme. Then, on the other hand, if I 
am not satisfied of the Divine character of the Bible, in 
itself considered, I can see whether it is proved true by 
my before-settled characteristics of Truth. 

I can readily find proof of its Divine character, for the 
language of our Lord Himself is explicit, " I came not of 
myself, but I came forth from the Father," * " as the 
Father gave me commandment, even so I do ; O righteous 
Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have 
known Thee ; and these have known that Thou hast sent 
me." t So that even were I inclined to side with those 
unhappy ones who deny the Divinity of our Lord, I should 
be compelled to admit the Divine character of His 
mission, and thus recognise the first characteristic of its 
Truth. So also is it Constant or united Truth; for a 
thousand years before His coming, it was the assertion, 
"A prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up unto thee, like 
unto me ; Him shall ye hear." J And seven hundred years 
before, Isaiah declared, "I am a just God, the Saviour, 
there is none beside me ; look unto me and be ye saved 
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and none else."§ 
And when that promised Saviour appeared. He also 
asserted, " He that believeth in me shall never die." || 
After He had ascended into Heaven, and returned unto 
the Father, His apostles preached — " Neither is there salva- 

* St. John. xvi. 28. t St. John, xvii. 25. t Deut. xvii. 15. 

^ Isaiah, xlv. 21, 22. || St. John, ii. 26. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 29 

tion in any other, for there is none other name given 
among men, whereby we may be saved." * " Beheve in 
the Lord Jesus Cheist and thou shalt be saved." f At 
the present day still the testimony of that Gospel is, 
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." J Most assuredly 
then, this is an unchangeable Truth, running through all 
ages the same. 

In like manner I find that the Gospel Truth was, and is, 
inflexible — resistant of error and falsehood. " He that 
believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that 
believeth not, shall be damned," § Jesus himself declared ; 
and very much like this is St. John's language, " He that 
believeth on Him is not condemned ; but he that believeth 
not, is condemned already." || And again, " That they 
might be damned, who believeth not the Truth." ^ 

I am satisfied then. I can see it clearly, and find it 
proved satisfactorily. My tests are correct, and they 
prove the Gospel, or the Gospel proves them, whichever 
way we choose to take it. What a beautiful system, too, I 
begin to perceive in this Hght of the Word of God ! I see 
now that the sacrifice of Christ, (which is the foundation 
of the Gospel scheme,) who was the Way, Truth, and Life, 
is really the Truth of God, and a plan which only God the 
true could have devised or carried on. And in that awful 

* Acts, iv. 12. t Acts, xvi. 31. t Rom. v. 1. 

4 Mark, xvi. 16. || St. John, iii. 18. IT Thes. ii. 12. 



30 HEAET AND HOME TKUTIIS. 

mystery, which last night seemed so hidden and dark to 
me, God-made-flesh — the Almighty Lord condescending to 
earth, suffering and dying here, an atonement for the 
sins of the world — yes, all this I see now as the one 
great Truth of God : that miracle of mercy, by which His 
Truth is preserved, and in which, as the Psalmist says, 
" Mercy and Truth are met together, righteousness and 
peace have kissed each other." *' Oh ! glorious, transcend- 
ent wisdom of God ! By this one great sacrifice His 
Truth is established, because by it are harmonized all the 
apparently conflicting attributes of His person. By it I 
see God proved holy and just, hating sin and punishing it ; 
and yet at the same time justifying sinners, and pardoning 
offenders. By it, I behold all the declarations of God's 
anger and wrath against the wicked, fulfilled ; and yet the 
operation of all His words of love and pity taking effect 
in each of those, who are covered with the mantle of His 
Son's righteousness. Justly, then, may I look on this as 
the one great Truth of God, the only manifestation of His 
Truth vouchsafed to man. 

Bat this Truth was manifested once only in the middle 
point of the world's history, at that time when, as the apos- 
tle saith, " the Word became flesh and tabernacled among 
us."t Then it was revealed as the great will of God, His 
way for the salvation of a ruined world. Upon this Truth 
God established His Covenants with mankind, for of course 

* Psalm, Ixxxv. 10. f S. Joh(i,i. 1 1. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 81 

all His Covenants liave only this foundation, His sacred 
Truth. . Otherwise they were worthless. Therefore all 
His Covenants were based upon the sacrifice of Christ, as 
the Truth of God, evidently set forth. And now, when I 
think of this, I can see another point. There is a beauti- 
fully simple reason why that sacrifice of Christ was con- 
stituted at the middle point of the world's history, as being 
the basis of both the Covenants, before and after, even in 
their diverse, or rather developed, natures. By this means 
each Covenant, either anticipatively or retrospectively, 
drew upon that Truth of Gon for all its benefit ; and each 
leaned only upon the atonement of Jesus as the sole mani^ 
fested Truth of the Father. 

But after all, what good does this do ? Here, this last 
hour, I have been sitting thinking, and turning over these 
sacred topics, and yet have not reached anything con- 
nected with myself — anything to fix the wavering doubt I 
felt last night, in looking at the distracted and divided state 
of Christendom respecting Truth. The soft moon I see 
has crept steadily on, until she is pouring down a full flood 
of light upon the whole landscape. Have I gained any 
such mental illumination ? Alas ! no. To be sure, I have 
settled in my own mind some great principles concerning 
the will of God, that are interesting, to say the least. I 
had perhaps never before realized so fully, that the only 
Truth of God which we can know, is that sacrifice of 
Christ; and ihat to that we must ever turn as the only 



82 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

true source of salvation. However, what has this to do 
with myself? How does it bring me near to God ? How 
will it reach the thirst of my spirit after Him ? What I 
want is something which shall show me a true and clear 
path in heart- approaches to my God. I know the reli- 
gionist will tell me — " It is clear, you see Christ as the 
only means of salvation, as the Truth ; believe on Him, 
and you shall be saved."* How easily said! Believe on 
Him ! Have I not believed ? Do not hundreds believe 
with me, that Christ is very God, and the only source of 
salvation, and yet are they saved ? That is the question. 
I would like to see how they are saved — because I would 
like to know liow they believed. Is it thought, credit, 
trust ? No, no. That belief never saved. I would know 
what belief is first, to clear my way. Sure I am, no man- 
fancy will ever gain me that great Truth — no plan of my 
own ever procure for me the union after which I pant. 

Then was this truth of God established for any purpose, 
or none ? Oh ! surely I cannot look back on that blood- 
stained cross — see the God-man suffer the awful anguishes 
of death — hear the expiring groan, " It is finished,"']" and 
yet ask such a question even to myself! No: so tremen- 
dous a sacrifice was made, only that the Truth of God 
should be established with mankind, as a source of salva- 
tion. One and all. Each and every. If that was the de- 
sign, there must have been a way. Here came to my 

* Acts xvi. 31. t S. John xix. 30. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 83 

mind the Coyenants. I thought of them before. What 
can I understand in the Covenants ? Were not they the 
channels through which the benefits of that Truth, Christ's 
sacrifice, were conveyed to man ? Ah ! this may be hght ! 
Let me repeat it to myself again, and take it in. The truth 
of God, preserved and manifested in the Lamb slain to take 
away the sins of the world, was simply a declaration of 
love and mercy ; and yet a love and mercy, not uncondi- 
tional, because it was opposed by God's hatred of sin. It 
therefore became a Truth upon which to base a Covenant 
with man, by which, and in keeping of which, the benefits 
of that Truth were to be personally conveyed. 

This does bring it nearer to myself, and if I can make 
clear what are the characters of these Covenants, I may 
see more distinctly how I, in my own personality, may ap- 
proach the Divine, and read a simple decision of the con- 
tradictory teaching of different creeds. Can I then re- 
member any passage of God's Word, calculated to clear up 
this point, and show me the nature of these Covenants ? 
They must be true, if the conveyances of Truth, and bear 
its characteristics. Yes, this suggests a passage to me — 
*' The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of 
the Truth."* Ah ! that is clear, very clear. What a 
comfortable, solid passage that is, to my mind, with all the 
figures of strength ! The " pillar and ground." Now that 
brings to my mind's eye some sohd masonry erecting itself 

* 1 Timothy iii. 15. 



84 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

high and firm above the struggle and roar of conflicting 
waves • an image of peace and strength amid dissolution 
and confusion. This the Church is said to be ; the pillar 
and ground of the Truth. It must be then the Covenant 
means of that Truth, and the Church must become the 
pillar by which it is supported, the ground upon which it 
is built. I see then that the Church is the Covenant in 
which God confirms His Truth, and by which the blessings 
of that one great Truth, the sacrifice of Christ, are ex- 
tended unto all men. For this cause it is termed the pillar 
and ground, as being the sure and unchangeable instru- 
ment by which that great Truth may be given unto men ; 
and the forgiveness of sins, and the pledge of eternal life, 
as its fruit, received. Another passage which comes to my 
mind makes this more clear — " Christ loved the Church, 
and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse 
it,"* where I see the sacrifice of Christ (which is the 
Truth of God) is spoken of as being the property or posses- 
sion of the Church. And then there is another passage 
which I recollect, stronger yet, and giving me more light 
still at this point. St. Paul says, that he by his preaching 
was to make " all men see what is the fellowship of the 
mystery" — (that mystery of godliness, I remember he else- 
where speaks of as being '' God manifest in the flesh") — 
" which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in 
God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent 

* Eph. V. 25, 26. 



HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 35 

that now . . might be known hy the Church the manifold 
wisdom of God."* That is as positive as it is plain. My 
Covenant is now clear. That Covenant is in the Church, 
to which, and in which, the Truth of God, promising for- 
giveness of sins by a crucified Redeemer, is pledged unto 
men. 

All this summed up, then, will be, that I have arrived at 
the conclusion that the Truth of God is wrought out in the 
sacrifice of Christ ; and that He gave His Son to be this 
sacrifice, as the basis and bond of a new Covenant, (as He 
had been of an old,) joining then to Him those whom, in 
that Covenant state of salvation. He calls His Church— 
His Spouse — His Body ; and because in it He communis 
Gates so great a blessing as the Truth of God, pledging 
forgiveness of sins and eternal life; therefore the Church 
is declared to be the pillar and ground of that Truth. 
The pillar, by which the knowledge of Christ is establish- 
ed ; the ground^ upon which the hope of eternal life is 
built. 

The Church ! Well ! I have obtained a name at least, 
but what beside ? What is the Church, in which I may 
attain to the covenanted state, and through which my 
heart may lay hold upon the sure Truth of God? How 
may I know it? The Church! Why, I can name almost 
as many Churches as there are places of worship — con- 
tending, disagreeing, and contradicting. How may I dis- 

* Eph. iii. 9, 10. 



BQ HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

cover which is the Church of Christ ? All cannot be 
true. Must I not here come to as great a stand as at the 
first, respecting disagreement upon religious Truth ? No 
— hardly ; for I have touched some solid ground. I am 
satisfied of one great Truth of God, by which man may be 
saved ; and I have also learned how to test the true. I 
may therefore steadily proceed, and sifting Truth from 
error, by the just tests, discover whether there be any — 
and if any, where — the Church of God. 

But, not now. Not to-night. I am weary of these very 
thoughts. My head is hot, and my brain tired. It is also 
growing late, I perceive. The moon, my beautiful moni- 
tress, looks down upon this peaceful valley, while she rides 
high in Heaven, as upon a lofty throne, and proclaims 
advancing night. No : I will rather let the topic rest for 
the present, to take up another day. Let me be satisfied 
with what I have attained so far, and hope more light for 
the future. Blessed comfort it is to think that there is a 
pillar of safety to which I may cling— -a ground of Truth 
upon which I may stand. Shine on, then, O moon, because 
of the word of Truth which hath established thee : and may 
that Truth be mine. 



SOLILOQUY III 



TRUTH LOCATED. 

I MAY wait a long time to-night, if I look for the moon. 
Plash ! — plash ! How the rain comes down ! The air, 
that was so mild the other day, is now bitingly cold, 
and I am right glad to be able to keep it out. How 
it sighs and moans round my dwelling ! Poor moon ! 
it will be behind a dark veil that you rise to-night ; and 
how cheerless and profitless will seem your journey, 
as you spend your light and brightness only upon dark, 
envious clouds, shutting out the"* bosom of earth. I, for 
one, shall miss you, for to you I owe no insignificant 
benefit in the suggestions of truth vv'hich you have 
given me. 

And yet, after all, I do not know but that there is a 
strong resemblance between the night upon which I 
look, and the state of things in the moral world, into 
which I gaze. The moon will shine behind these clouds, 
and all the storm and riot will not one jot affect her 
placid glow. It may be hard to make out where she 
is; very difficult to understand her position; yet I know 

2 



83 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

that she is there ; and, by the general light diffused, she 
somewhat brightening in even the sullen clouds, her 
effect is perceived. So it is in the moral, or, rather, 
spiritual v/orld. Confusion, storm, strife, darkness, and 
doubt, seem to fill its boundaries. Truth cannot be dis- 
covered at a glance ; nor even with a steady gaze would 
WQ believe it there. Yet, we may know^ that it is there. 
Sure as the Word of God, behind the dark vail of clouds, 
the Truth, and the Church of God as the pillar of that Truth, 
does shine. It may be difficult to discover ; but if we 
seek, we shall find. Whatever light and brightness we 
see, in those dark clouds of error, is only the reflection 
of her Truth, who shines afar, and is a proof of her ex- 
istence. Yes, I will accept this night as an emblem, 
and, acting upon its suggestions, earnestly endeavor to 
locate that Truth which I discovered last niglit. 

Now, this is one thing I know at the outset — I can 
make nothing by searching among the clouds which now 
encompass me. To seek among the numerous creeds 
whichi to-day stare me in the face, for the Truth, is — well, 
it is absurd. Suppose I look for the moon to-night, 
and endeavor to find her position behind this mass of 
floating vapor, I shall be deceived and lost in a few 
moments. Every little break in the maze will mislead 
me ; every accidental and more than ordinary brightness, 
cause me to err. So it will be with the Truth. Any 
beauty striking my mental eye in this creed, will lead 



J 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 39 

me to cry, '• It is there !" while any excellence manifested 
in another creed, will lead me to cry, " It is there !" 
I will do in the moral world as I would do in the natural 
— take the experience of a past clear and cloudless 
night ; and, by the position she held then, know how 
and where to find the moon to-night. I will go to the 
past. I will begin at the cloudless time. I will seek 
the Truth in the first Covenant, the Church of God, 
when there were no contentions against the Truth. By 
what it was then I will seek it now. 

That there was such a time, I was satisfied last night. 
I then came to see that the sacrifice of Christ, and His 
atoning blood, were the one great Truth of God, mani- 
fest and set forth once, in the fullness of time, at the 
middle point of the world's history ; and that the Church 
of God signified His Covenants founded upon that Truth. 
These I then saw were two — the anterior and posterior 
Covenants ; both deriving all their efficacy from that 
one Truth ; their only benefits referring to that Saviour's 
blood. 

The fact of the existence of such covenants does not 
trouble me. I never had a doubt of it. It is the com- 
mon consent of Christendom. Ever since the fall of 
man, (according to the Revealed Word), there has been 
a company, or fellowship of the servants of God, with 
whom He covenanted, upon the basis of that sacred 
Truth. This body, or company, was, therefore, what 



40 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

I understand by the Church of God — a position of cove- 
nanted favor wdth Him. 

Nov^, I further knovi^, (v^ithout any great effort of 
memory), that sacred History informs me of a series 
of progressions in this Truth ; and that, both before 
and after the Great Sacrifice, it has . been susceptible of 
extension and increase in marked stages. These I set 
down as Patriarchal, National, and Universal. If I am 
to locate the Truth now, I must search these closely 
and watch them narrowly, to see if they each stand 
the tests I have resolved upon as the characteristics 
of Truth. 

The Patriarchal Church, or Covenant upon the Trath, 
was, at the first, the selection of one family to be the 
recipients of His Truth, and who might claim in that 
way the prospective benefits of the sacrifice of Christ. 
To these, God made known the conditions of His Cove- 
nant, in those . appointed acts of obedience which were 
to become the conveyances, by type, of the promised 
boon. Thus I find the earliest institutions in existence, 
as sacraments or solemn signs, on the one hand^ of what 
God demanded ; on the other, of what man received. 
These rites or sacraments were two — Sacrifice and Cir- 
cumcision ; which were the signs of the Divine Covenant 
upon the Trutli, and pledges of safety and eternal inheri- 
tance. Sacrifice was, (whatever its origin), in a sacra- 
mental act, the shedding of blood, as an acknowiedg- 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 41 

ment that sin deserved death, and that the Great Sacri- 
fice to come could alone save the sinner from that death. 
Circumcision was the sign of a separation and severance 
of the people of God from the people of tlie w^orld, and 
the evidence of their acceptance into His family. So 
w^ith Abraham, God declared that His Covenant, ratified 
by these two Sacraments, should be an enduring one; 
and that all who entered upon these rites, in true faith 
of His promise, should claim the promised salvation, 
which was to be obtained through the atoning Lamb. 

Now the question is, was this Patriarchal Covenant 
what it professes? Can I prove it one, continuous, and 
divine in its teaching? Was it not the outgrowth of 
a superstition natural to ruder ages, or the uprising 
of a mummery only a degree removed from barbarous 
idolatry ? 

To this I cannot accede. I am compelled to reject 
such a theory, if I do not desire to reject the Word of 
God. This Covenant appointment was divine, for God 
Himself gave the terms. He spake unto Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, 
appointing both sacrifice and circumcision as the tokens 
of His -purposed Covenant. It was one with the Great 
Truth of Christ's atonement for sin ; inasmAich as all 
the benefits in it were drawn only from the expected 
coming of One, whom God promised as the seed of the 
woman to bruise the serpent's head ; and circumcision 



42 HEART AKD HOME TRUTHS. 

and sacrifice only availed for the satisfaction of sin, by 
their being, as the Apostle says, " figures of the True/'* 
It was also Continuous in its opposition to error or 
falsehood ; for the only promises which it held out were 
to those who, by these sacraments, were in covenant with 
God, and obedient to His commandments — " This do, 
and thou shalt live ;"t exactly as its threatenings ran — 
" Keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not." 
"And if it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy 
God — I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely 
perish. "J " The uncircumcised child, that soul shall 
surely be cut off from His people. ''§ 

Convinced of this, if I now proceed to trace the course 
of time, and the progress of events, 1 find myself ap- 
proaching a second era of that Truth — the national 
development of the Church, or Covenant upon it. The 
natural increase of single families led to the necessary 
formation of a more extended means of cementing in 
visible polity the multitude of the faithful. Hence the ap- 
pointment of a separate priesthood in the Mosaic Cove- 
nant ; as God said to Moses, " Ye shall be a kingdom 
of priests, and an holy nation. "|| Before this period, 
the father of each family was the acting priest of all 
his dependents, and ministered for and to his family the 
appointed sacraments. This was, most assuredly, the 

*Heb., lx.24. t St. Luke, X. 28. J Deut., viii. 9. 

^ Gen., xvii. 14. || Exod., xix. 6. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 43 

cause of the greater continuity of the parental relation in 
the early ages, and the dependency of many separate 
families upon the one first parent, so long as he lived. 
How beautiful, too, was this honor and respect ! With 
what a sanctity it endued the parental office ! I wonder 
if that sanctity is as utterly gone and departed as we 
in these latter days compute it to be ? Is " Ichabod" so 
entirely written upon the honor due to that once revered 
relation ? I feel as if it were not. Still, I am wandering 
from my topic. Suffice it for me now, that then it was 
so. But, as these families became a nation, it required 
more time and care to perform the various duties, and, 
with an appointed ritual in connexion with them, it was 
necessary that some should be set apart for the special 
purpose of ministering in these sacred emblems of the 
Covenant. For this cause was appointed one tribe of the 
nation, who were to be the priests of the people, and to 
devote themselves especially to the sustaining and carry- 
ing on God's Covenant with that people. Thus came in 
the Mosaic ritual, with its full enactments of vivid figures, 
bold types and foresliadowings of the Truth to come ; 
with its institution of a race of priests who ministered 
in that Covenant ; and who, throuo-h the channels of 
circumcision and sacrifice, conveyed to all the chosen 
people of God, the blessings of that one great atonement 
for sins, the Lamb of God, 

Here again I must apply my tests — the characteristics 



44 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

of Truth. Was ^hh \-)YOgYess}on Bivine? Most assuredly, 
unless I have been mistaken in tracing its history. All 
the appointments of ihe Mosaic ritual were the result of 
the direct command of God. The institution of the priest- 
hood — the arrangement of the tabernacle — the order of 
sacred ceremonies — the promulgation of the Command- 
ments of the Law, were all received as the mouth of the 
Lord had spoken it ; and as His will and law, divine in 
their origin. Were they, however, united ? Did not the 
new institutions of the National Covenant contradict, or 
disagree with, the Patriarchal ? Not at all, when. I ex- 
amine them closely ; for the apparent change was no al- 
teration. Still, as ever, circumcision and sacrifice were 
the two important and leading signs of the Covenant with 
God, and the salvation which was to come by its Truth. 
They still continued the symbols of the true. The priest- 
hood, although no longer continuing in the natural descent 
of father to son, was still a successive descent in the same 
office of father and son, in an appointed tribe, and there- 
fore at unity with the past. Was it, however. Continuous 
as well as united ? As the Jewish Church became thus 
widened in its course, and ramified in its operation, I can 
easily conceive how the force and strictness of adhesion to 
the Truth practicable in the family government, should 
become almost obliterated. V/as it not so ? No — I know 
it was not ; for I recollect well that glorious passage of the 
Jewish historv, when the faithful Joshua, at his last hour, 



HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. 45 

SO nobly vindicated the honor of God, and declared with, 
no mealy-mouthed phrase, the awful solemnity of that 
theocracy under which they lived— his language was, " Ye 
cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God, He will not 
forgive your transgressions and your sins, in forsaking the 
Lord and serving strange gods ; for then will He turn and 
do you hurt, and consume you."* And as regards the 
legal' bearing of that service, I remember, "Any male 
among you that remaineth uncircumcised, that soul shall 
be cut off from his people/'f • 

Above a thousand years thus existed the Church and 
Covenant of God, Patriarchs and prophets, priests and 
kings, saints and sages, in that Holy Covenant found safety 
and salvation. By faith, looking forward unto the Truth 
of God, even although they may not have fully realized 
what was to be the manifestation of that Truth and love, 
they yet were accepted in the Beloved. What a magni- 
ficent vista of the past opens before me as I look at this 
period ! What a gorgeous procession of glowing characters 
fills my eye ! I think I can even distinguish among the host, 
the peculiarity attaching to the man after God's own heart 
— the regal type of more regal anti-type ; even he accept- 
ing deliverance only through that Holy Covenant, the pro- 
mise of the Lord, unto his Lord. 

At length, when the " fullness of time was come, God 
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the 

* Josh. xxiv. 19, 20. t Gen. xvii. 14. 



46 HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 

Law, to redeem them that were under the Law/'"*' Then 
• arrived the period of the third and final progression of the 
sacred Truth; and after the death and sacrifice of Christ, 
at that middle point of the Church's existence, it was 
changed in its character and appearance. 

For now in the consummated death and atonement of 
Jesus, God's Truth was made manifest, and upon it a new- 
Covenant was to be based. The Church, from having 
been carnal and fleshly in its types of Christ, was to be- 
come spiritual and heavenly in its retrotypes. The Cove- 
nant, built upon the Truth, having been before in temporal 
conditions, was to be made spiritual. And yet this change 
was no alteration, for Jesus Himself declared, " I come 
not to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill,"f i. e., 
to complete, perfect, accomplish them ; and when the 
Church, as the pillar and ground of the Truth, passing 
through the patriarchal and national grades, reached the 
Catholic or Universal, it only attained the full measure of 
the Divine Will. 

Here it is, that I must apply my final test. The Church, 
as completed and established in the Messiah, will it exhibit 
Divinity, Unity, and Continuity ? Can that new phase 
be true as the past ? Yes ; for I see in the Author of the 
new Covenant, Him who was " the very Truth and Life ;" 
and in " Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant,"J " God 
manifest in the flesh"§ — God over all blessed for evermore. 

* Gal. iv. 4 t Matthew V, 17. t Heb. ix. 15. § 1 Tim. iii . 



HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 47 

Its origin was therefore as fully Divine as that of the first 
Covenant. It is also in perfect unity with the ever-existing 
Truth. To the minutest particular, the spiritual Covenant 
of the Church of Christ is the perfecting of the tempo- 
ral Covenant and in harmony with it, as the Jewish 
Church. For, still was Crhist given as the only source of 
salvation ; in the new Covenant as in the old, Jesus, the 
Lamb oflered up for the sins of the world, was the only 
foundation. So also, as in the earlier existence of the 
Church, two sacred signs were instituted as the pledges of 
the Truth, and as the means of drawing the benefits of 
Jesus' blood, were circumcision and sacrifice ; in like man- 
ner, in the spiritual Covenant, were two sacred signs and 
pledges of the blessings of salvation continued : — spiritual 
circumcision and spiritual sacrifice. Baptism the one, 
Holy Communion the other. Through these as appointed 
means, still to be drawn from Christ, the assurance of par- 
don and the promise of grace. The priesthood, too, which 
had in the national Church been enlarged to a whole tribe, 
in the descent of natural parent and natural successor, 
was changed to a priesthood of spiritual descent, without 
limit of tribe, but conveyed from spiritual father to spir- 
itual son ; and still appointed by that Divine Head to ofier 
the spiritual sacrifices, and give the sign of the bloodless 
circumcision of the heart. Therefore I can see, that the 
closer I look, the more evident becomes the unity of the 
Covenants and test of their Truth. Not a rite or cere- 



48 HEAET AND HOME TKUTHS. 

mony of any real value in the national Church, but was 
completed in spiritual character, in the universal Church ; 
a Church no more to be confined to one nation, but to be 
a Covenant offered to all m.ankind, of every nation, people, 
kindred, tongue ; as a means whereby they may embrace 
the Truth, which is salvation through Christ, the Lamb of 
God, taking away the sins of the world. Nor do I find 
this fail in the last test. It would not be surprising, in- 
deed, when""so great was the enlargement of the Covenant, 
that laxity should creep into its position of doctrine ; but 
instead of this, I find the cry is yet, " This is the way 
walk ye in it."* The promises are not unconditional, or 
unrestricted. I hear the terms of the Church of Christ 
as positively asserted as a thousand years before in the 
Church. " He that believeth and is baptized, shall be 
saved ; he that beheveth not, shall be damned. "f " Unless 
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye have no life in 
you."J 

Here let me pause for breath and cooler thought. How 
heatedly I have tracked out this line of thought ! It has 
had the zest of a strange search. I have only, however, 
trod upon ground with which I am familiar. It is nothing 
debatable or uncertain. It is no argumentative course- 
it has been a simple process of inductive reasoning. I may 
with this rest satisfied, and for the remainder take a more 
convenient season. 

Isa. XXX. 20. f Markxvi. 10. t John vi. 53. 



SOLILOQUY IV 



NATURE OF THE CHURCH. 

A DELICATE subject of inquiry I am to propose to myself 
to-night, truly ! Quite a hair-splitting point for nicer feel- 
ings! Most truly glad am I that no dear friends are near 
to be interested in the debate, or a curious effect might be 
elicited. As a controversy with myself, it may answer. 
I shall not probably hurt my own feelings, or if I do, will 
most likely bear ^patiently the unkind thrust. A man 
never intentionally wounded his own pride to any great 
extent ; unintentionally he often may do it. If I prove 
myself to be deeply in error, so far, I can very quietly 
resolve upon a change of action, and let it end there. 
But, suppose friend A were here, or friend B, or friend C, 
it would be a cruel cut to endeavor to demonstrate to them, 
that they had been utterly mistaken in their notions — that a 
Church or Covenant, upon the Truth, was unknown to them. 
And yet what should I do ? Friend A is a mild, easy- 
going adherent of the Universalist Church — friend B a 
stern and unyielding member of the Baptist Church — 
friend C a white-hot denunciator of ultra-Calvinistic 
views, brought to a focus under some hydro-oxygenic 



60 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

spiritual blow-pipe system, and a member of the Presby- 
terian Church to boot. I fancy myself pursuing my 
inquiry with them by my side ! What short corners to 
turn ! What huge stretches of the mantle of charity, first 
to one side, and then to the other ! No, I am glad I sit 
quietly by myself, in all the sincerity of an unshackled 
heart, that I may follow Truth wherever it leads ; look 
boldly in its face, under any guise, until I discover the 
likeness to the Divine, not fearing to reject anything that 
is false, for fear it should be false. 

Let me then proceed on my way. I wish to examine 
the Nature of the Church. By the Church I have settled 
that I must always understand the Covenant made with 
sinners, based upon the Truth of God's mercy, and pro- 
pitiation for the sins of the world. It is called the Body of 
Christ, because into that Covenant all must be brought 
who are to receive the pledge of eternal life, and when 
so brought into covenant, they are united to Christ, and 
made His own, by which means they escape the punish- 
ment of eternal death. The covenant state, then, whereby 
sinners are adopted into the family of God — this pledged 
condition of salvation, through the atonement of Christ, 
is the position of those who make up the company of the 
Church of God, the Body of Christ, the vine, of which 
He is the root, and they the branches. I feel it necessary 
to repeat this to myself, more earnestly, because I do not 
desire to be led to any unnecessary admissions on limiting 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 5 1 

the Nature of the Church. I wish, therefore, to have 
clearly and positively before my rnind, what I understand 
by the Church as a distinctive title, ere I search into her 
nature. So far, then, I am located* Thus understood, 
the Church of God is the pillar and ground of the Truth, 
as the Covenant upon the sacrifice ; and the outward signs 
.and tokens of this Covenant are found in spiritual circum- 
cision and sacrifice, i, e. Baptism and the Supper of tlie 
Lord. 

Now, for the nature of this Covenant, its operation to 
the personal and actual uniting of the soul to God ; the 
individual salvation by His grace, in and through it, as its 
power, capacity, and purpose ; this, my heart hovers 
round, tremblingly. Here is where I most keenly feel the 
need of light. Can I find any Truth in this ? Can J see 
any such nature in any Covenant, church, or system, as 
will be sustained by the characteristics of Truth, and yet, 
evidently effective to bring me into spiritual union with 
my God ? Ah ! that is worth answering ! 

Come down here from thy shelf, precious volume, sacred 
Word ! Does the revelation of God give no information 
upon so momentous a point ? I could almost think it did 
not, if I were to judge by the experience of others. I sel- 
dom see others examining its pages, to discover what they 
declare respecting the Truth ; they seem to embrace what 
they like, and then declare it true, because they like it. 
And yet, there is floating in my mind the recollection of 



52 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

a passage which may set me aright, concerning the nature 
of the Church. It is an Epistle; yes, one of the learned 
Apostle Paul's Epistles. Writing to the Colossians he says : 
(respecting some erring members of the Church), " not 
holding the Head, from which the whole body, by joints 
and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit 
together, increaseth with the increase of God." * What 
does he mean by '' body," is the first thought ? If 1 look 
back, perhaps I may discover. Yes, it is explained in a 
chapter before, where I see it is written, " and He (the 
Son of God) is the Head of the Body, the Church, who is 
the first born from the dead." f It is, therefore, simply 
a figurative expression, and by it I am to understand, that 
this Body, the Church, is dependent upon Jesus as its 
Head, and from Him it draws its nourishment, the Truth 
of God. By "joints and bands," it is partaker of all the 
blessings derivable from its Head, and those wdio make up 
its Body are connected, by this nature of union, with the 
Head, Jesus, for the attainment of spiritual and eternal 
life. Just as St. John saith, " In Him was life, and the 
life was the light of men. J 

Hence arises to my mind a simple division of the ques- 
tion, and the nature of the Church resolves itself into that 
of Body and Spirit. I will look at them closely in turn, 

1st. The Body of the Church. This has partially repre- 
sented itself before. It is the great company of reasona- 

* Col. ii. 19. t .Col. i. 18. X John i. 4. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 53 

ble beings, on earth, kept together by the operation of the 
Spirit of God, the Creator of the world, and who are band- 
ed together for the purpose of receiving from Him, in a 
free gift, eternal life ; as the fulfillment of God's Truth, in 
His first promise, and manifested as such Truth, in the 
atonement gf Christ. 

This company of faithful people, willing to receive His 
Covenant, He makes His kingdom and His family ; and to 
them He conveys through the Head of that family, even 
Christ, spiritual and eternal hfe, as the Redeemer Himself 
declared, " I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me 
shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never 
thirst."* From Him the whole Body is nourished and fed. 
By Him, as the Head, the Body exists, and from Him 
alone can come all its Life, Truth and Knowledge. 

Now, if all this be true, (and it is in the sure Word of 
God,) in the spiritual Body, w^orld, or kingdom, we must, 
of course, find a Unity with God's operation in His other 
kingdoms. If this be not so, I must have been somewhere 
mistaken. The tests of Truth are unalterable. If we, 
who seek salvation by the Church of God, cannot find unity 
between her claims and nature, and the known nature of 
other kingdoms of God's creation, she must be false. I 
must, therefore, if the Church be really a spiritual kingdom, 
find her to be in unity with the nature of all other king- 
doms of God. 

* John vi. 35. 



54 HEAKT AND HOME TEUTHS. 

What do I see then, as the characteristics of the animal 
kingdom ? In it, how does the sovereign Power convey 
life ? Order and Harmony are the grand characteristics 
of its evolution of life. The exact, minute, and perfect 
adaptation of each part to the other, is evident. The com- 
plete dependency of the various members, each upon the 
other, and the unity of the whole, in order to the convey- 
ance and the sustenance of life, is very observable. In 
each Body there is system, order, law, subordination and 
rule. Thus the Head, as the source of the will, commands 
the various members, and they act only in reference to it ; 
and yet they mutually support each other, in their indi- 
vidual operation, for the sustenance of life, according to an 
inflexible law. In the vital system, for the preservation of 
the being, the blood-vessels, at the extremity of the circu- 
lation, in connection with the lesser arteries, and they in 
turn with the greater-^each with each — are dependent one 
upon the other. And yet all these are effectual to life 
only by their receiving from the distant heart the stream 
of life, which they convey in subordinate turn and degree, 
according to a fixed and unalterable lavv : the violation of 
which law, is always death. How beautiful and myste- 
rious is all this system ! How perfect its order ; how un- 
varied its law, and how complete its harmony ! 

In the vegetable world I find the same. Order and sys- 
tem mark out all its existence. Not a flower that blos- 
soms, not a tree that bears, but shows us the harmonious 



HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 55 

order of the Divine Head, if we will have the humihty to 
learn it. Law and relation are operative in all. From 
the root, deep in earth, springs the stem, drawing from that 
as its source the nourishment, which in its turn conveys 
the same to the off-shooting branches. These again, 
through a thousand channels, to the smaller limbs and ten- 
der leaves, convey the hfe-sustaining sap. These also, per- 
forming their part by their semi-respirating action, in con- 
nection with the afforded nutriment, go on to develop bud, 
blossom and fruit, each after his kind. Thus unitedly and 
orderly they perform their various functions, and have their 
life — or, to speak more correctly, have their connection 
with God as the source of life — saining that state and con- 
dition which, in our ignorance of its integrity, we call life. 
If this system is broken, and that plan to which He has 
been pleased to attach the working of His power be de- 
ranged, life languishes and fails. Let the diseased heart 
hesitate and falter in its pulsation, and lo! the clogged 
veins, the chilled arteries, the benumbed flesh, the failing 
breath, tell of the cessation of that wondrous principle 
which God ordained to be only in His order. Let the 
broken stem drop and fall on earth, and lo ! the enfeebled 
branches, the flaccid leaves, the discolored foliage, will tell 
of departing vitality, as the penalty of a violation of God's 
law of order, and system of harmonious combination. 

But I must not content myself with the lower develop- 
ments. Let me glance at the moral world as well as the 



56 HEAET AND HOME TKUTHS. 

natural, and what shall J find there? To every family 
by a natural law (as we call it) God has ordained one pa- 
rent to be the head, the author of the life as well as the 
ruler and guide of the existence of those beings dependent 
upon his love and care. From him they derive their seve- 
ral positions, as also their peculiar offices, as children, ser- 
vants, dependents, friends ; and in the true preservation of 
this order and system can alone be found that happiness or 
comfort constituting the true life of the moral world. The 
body of the family cannot exist in any verity unless this 
order and harmony be preserved. There need be no doubt 
in my mind respecting this. Alas 1 I have seen too many 
unhappy families, too many shattered homes — too many 
desolate hearths, made such only from want of this proper 
subordination of system, not to see clearly that the moral 
world attests the invariable and inflexible Truth of order, 
harmony and system, as a means of life, or connection with 
the Divine Will of existence. 

I am therefore already prepared, by this process of in- 
duction, to discover, in the highest grade of God's king- 
doms, the same indications as in the lower; and I expect to 
find in it Unity with the rest of God's creation. I must. 
There can be no choice. The rigid rules of Truth which 
I have laid down constrain me. There can be no contra- 
diction in the Divine. There must be unity — in fact, if 
not in appearance. If the natural body and the moral 
body receive their true existence only in organic law, in 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 57 

an unalterable system of government, the spiritual 
world or Body must be the same. Can I imagine that 
the Almighty Creator will pursue a different plan of ope- 
ration from all other in it, and give life there in a to- 
tally different manner ? If I do, I shall be most griev- 
ously mistaken, according to the testimony of the Word; 
for the passage I hold in my hand, and which led me 
to this train of thought, gives the very figure of the 
natural body for the explanation of the spiritual. The 
Apostle in it does not speak of spiritual existence as some 
pecuHar and separate individual life, begotten in a doubtful 
way, continued in an insecure channel. Oh, no! it is in 
unity with all else of God's creation, and carried on in 
harmonious system and order. Let me read that passage 
again — " The Head, from whom the whole body by joints 
and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit toge- 
ther, increaseth with the increase of God." Then Christ, 
the Truth, is also the Life. He is the root of the vine, the 
Head of the Body. Alone from Him, and through Him, 
can spiritual life be bestowed upon His Body — the faithful, 
for whom He died. Therefore from Him, as the Head, 
through two sacred channels, are conveyed, to all the 
members of His Body, the -blessed principle of spiritual 
life — i. e., forgiveness of sins and help of His grace. To 
administer these sacred signs of the Covenant, and also as 
offices of that body, branches of that head, or trunk : are 
given. His ministers and representatives, who are to " feed 



58 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

the Church of God"* with the spiritual nourishment afforded 
through these sacraments. Through these channels are 
conveyed to each and all of His members spiritual life, 
received in them by a lively faith, embraced by an active 
love, and bringing forth the fruit of all holy living. 

In looking upon it as a whole, therefore, I perceive that 
the Body of the Church is made up of the Truth or Word, 
which is Christ crucified for the sins of the world. The 
Ministry, who are the proclaimers of that Truth, and who 
are appointed to make known the " mysteries of God as 
His stewards ;"f the Sacraments, by which the members 
of that Body are grafted into it, and through which the 
ministers and stewards of God's mysteries so receive and 
feed them ; the Services, or celebration of those Holy 
Sacraments, accompanied by prayers and praise, as a spir- 
itual sacrifice and offering unto God. All these, connected 
and tied by the joints and bands of believing and loving 
hearts, make up that Body of whom Christ is the Head, 
and which Body, according to the harmonious order of 
God's laws, is appointed for the support of spiritual life, 
and pledge of eternal existence. 

Very glad am I that I determined to make this clear to 
my mind before 1 viewed anything else. I now most dis- 
tinctly see the Truth of God in the external Body of His 
Cljurch. I see the harmonious appointment of order and 
law, as the conveyance of life throughout creation. I 

* Acts XX. 28. i Corinlh. iv 1. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 59 

believe I thoroughly understand the Body of the Church, 
and see how really and truly a man can be united to 
Christ, The anxious longing of my soul is^ within grasp. 
I do see how Truth may become even my own. And yet 
is this all I may learn ? Is this the whole of spiritual life ? 
No. I have only considered the Body of the Church ; the 
form, order and government in its necessary constitution 
I must now reflect upon the Spirit. 

2d. What, then, is the Spirit of the Church ? 

Christ (I must never forget as first and above all) is the 
Head of the Church, and from Him alone of course that 
Body must be supported. All this harmony, order and 
system ; appointed sacraments, divine ministry, solemn 
services ; are designed and given simply for the purpose of 
keeping up (as they convey) the union of the soul of each 
member with Christ — to secure to it the blessings of His 
atonement, i. e., the presence of the Comforter, and the for- 
giveness of sins. In this way is preserved the mysterious 
principle of spiritual life, which is soul-union with Gou. 
Thus is conveyed the forgiveness of sins received through 
a devout faith, and thus the presence of the Holy Ghost is 
embraced by a burning love. By which means, all the 
various members are one with the Head, Christ, who 
dwells in them with that fullness with which he "filleth all 
in all."* I see then in the Ministry, the instruments by 
which men are grafted into the Body of Christ. The one 



60 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

Sacrament of Baptism administered by them (the " circum- 
cision made without hands/'* as the Apostle calls it,) being 
the means by which mankind may be ''buried with 
CtiKiST/'t and " rise with him through faith of the opera- 
tion of God," and by which they are born into the family 
of God, and put into a new Covenant with Him. The 
other Sacrament, the spiritual sacrifice of the Lord's Sup- 
per, becomes the mxans through, which the life begun in 
Baptism, together with all its high privileges and holy du- 
ties, may be carried on. By the celebration of that Holy 
Mystery, in memory of the only True Sacrifice, the be- 
liever receives, through the channel of bread and wine, the 
Covenant pledge of the remission of sins, the cleansing of 
body and soul by the body and blood of Christ, and also 
divine grace to support the soul and nourish it up to ever- 
lasting life. In this way, regularly and in beautiful order, 
is received from Christ Himself all spiritual existence, and 
by the operation of a true faith in the heart, the soul is 
made one with Him — by the action of a devout love in 
the soul, it " dwells in Him and He in it. "J The Spirit of 
God, therefore, in the Church, acts upon the soul and body 
of every member of the same, and becomres in them the 
perfected faith and love by which they receive divine life 
according to the appointed order. 

With this, then, for the present, I may remain satisfied. 
I will not press the matter farther to-night. I am content 

* Col. li, 11. t Col. ii. 12. t 1 John iv. (5. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 61 

to see this much of the Truth of God, as clearly as I now 
see it. I have gained, in this examination, some feelings 
and thoughts new in their application. I have often 
heard, and heard with satisfaction too, friends of my 
own express themselves to the effect, that they do not 
see the necessity of uniting with any Church ; that, 
meaning to do their duty, they hope thus to be saved. 
This I thought reasonable. It struck me favorably. If 
their minds did not see the necessity of attaching them- 
selves to any special society, and if they tried to do their 
duty, that seemed to me to be abundant ground for hope 
of final acceptance with God. But to-ni^ht I feel differ- 
ently. My thoughts have opened to me a solemn neces- 
sity. Spiritual life can only be gained in Truth or cer- 
tainty, as God gives it. If he has appointed an order and 
method for such attainance, it cannot be gained any other 
way. How awfully important, then, becomes a union 
with the Church of Christ ! How utterly vain any ex- 
pectation of a private or personal way of salvation ! No ! 
Only He — is the Way, Truth, and Life. 

And, then, how differently the Word, Ministry and 
Sacraments appear to me ! I have always, of course, 
respected and honored all these as religious instruments, 
and looked upon them as valuable to mankind. But 
to-night, with what awful solemnity do they become in- 
vested ! As I look upon the Holy Sacrifice of Christ, for 
the forgiveness of sin, and see in that the Truth of God 

3 



62 IIEAIIT AND HOME TRUTHS. 

covenanting with man, I then see the provision made 
for conveying to every mortal soul the life and grace 
drawn from that precious fountain-head ; and thus the 
harmonious system of spiritual life, contained in Sacra- 
ments, Ministry, and Word, how precious do they be- 
come ! They are not mere convenient arrangements for 
carrying on a religious polity, and the plan by which a 
society or congregation may be held together and best 
controlled. They stand before my mind, under the law, 
order, and system of that religious body, in which, and 
by which, Christ conveys His pardon for sin, and His 
promise of spiritual existence. The Word becomes, there- 
fore, to me, the language of my God ; the Ministry, the 
representatives of my Redeemer, and the instruments 
of His grace ; the Sacraments, holy channels, in which 
into my soul comes the Comforter, the Holy Ghost — 
sanctifier of the faithful ! 

Oh ! what a rich provision for the wants of man ! Tell 
me, my heart, canst thou desire more than has been af- 
forded in this, the mercy of thy God ? Couldst thou, with 
never so unblushing a face, seek or wish a more blessed 
provision than has been made for thee, in this, the Truth of 
God — a Christ to die for thee, as the fount of undying life ; 
and all the joints and bands supplied, by which to bind 
thee unto Him, and drink and eat that nourishment of thy 
soul, by which it shall be nourished up unto everlasting 
life ? All this for thee ! Oh, my heart, thou art blessed ! 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 63 

Nevertheless, let me not look with too daring an eye 
upon this. Provision is only promise. Promise is not 
security. I have yet much more to learn, much more to 
understand, respecting this economy of God, beginning 
now to dawn so beautifully, so preciously upon my sight. 
Let me preserve a calm and unbiassed mind. Begone, 
enthusiasm ! even for Truth. Depart, excitement and 
fervor ! even respecting tlie nature of soul-life. I desire to 
take every step and progression of this examination coolly 
— coldly — even, that so I need not fear bewilderment. 

For the present, I may pause. I now understand the 
nature of the Church of Christ, in herself. I am not ad- 
vanced much, to be sure, in the distinguishing of the 
claims of different religious bodies. Yet, that is not of 
consequence. If I settle upon the characteristics of the 
Church herself, it will not be difficult to test others by 
them. This I know; and it is sufficient for me. Life 
is only of Gon. I cannot live in my body, except under 
that bodily system which God has appointed. Neither can 
I truly live in my soul, unless in that spiritual system 
which He has provided. Therefore, that do I seek. 



SOLILOQUY V. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH. 

It is not yet dark. A shimmering light hngers upon 
the face of the winding stream. A kind of trembling 
radiance hangs over its surface, as though some fond rays 
of light which had kissed its bosom through the day, 
enamored of their home, lingered to take a tender fare- 
well. How beautiful is the placid half twilight, and the 
light around the stream ! I love to look down the far 
distance of the valley, and trace its windings, betrayed by 
the brightness of those rays. How boldly they stand out 
against the dark brow of the high hill ! How clearly 
are they relieved by the dark russet of the meadows 
where they meander ! Far, far down, I can trace their 
course, until they are lost in the distant haze. 

Several years ago, and hundreds of miles away, I 
crossed this stream at its embouchure. Little, then, 
did I think, as I rode upon its curling waves, and beheld 
swift-sailing vessels and heavily-freighted barges dotting the 
surface around me, that, afar off, the same waters should 
present so pleasing and so quiet a scene : as little as that 



66 HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. 

the aforesaid spot should be my home. Equally hard is it 
to reahze now, as I gaze upon this sequestered vale, that, 
in the far distance, this very water presents to-night, the 
busy, imposing view which I know it must : and that, 
while here, all is peace and serene beauty ; there, all may 
be agitation, bustle, and toil. 

And yet, to-night, when I come to reflect upon it, and 
turn my attention to the facts of the world around me, rela- 
tively to the thoughts teeming within me, these things ap- 
pear to have a significance worthy of notice. How much 
the course of this stream resembles that which has formed 
the subject of my anxious thoughts these last few evenings 
— the Church of Christ, her history and course through 
long and weary ages. Just thus, in . her early years, did 
the Truth flow, in a bright, slender current — more bright 
and sparkling for the narrow channel and rugged boun- 
daries through which it passed. And just thus now. In 
a mighty and resistless flood, reaching far and wide, her 
waves extend from pole to pole ; 3^et, alas ! darkened 
by their depth, and broken up by their worldly admixture 
of pride, agitation, and strife. 

However, I am not to dwell upon similitudes. I wish to 
carry out the subject in its simplicity. Truth must not be 
tampered with. Over-dressed Truth makes but a homely 
figure, and one little pleasing to the eye. Let me now 
go on to discover the Church of Christ, as the pillar and 
ground of Truth, in her characteristics. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 67 

Last night, I had the nature of the Church upon my 
mind.. I then saw that it was composed of two parts — 
the external, or Body ; the internal, or Spirit. The body I 
find to be that company of faithful, loving beings, who. 
through the agency of the Ministry, in two sacraments, 
are brought into covenant with God ; and thus, in a regular 
and harmonious system, derive from Christ (the Head of 
the Body) that which shall be the gift of eternal life — even 
the forgiveness of sins and presence of the Holy Ghost. 
Hence, the spirit of the Church is the soul-union with 
God, by means of the Holy Ghost ; for the conveyance of 
which, from Christ, as the Head of the Body, are given 
the joints and bands, trunk and branches, which constitute 
the body of the Church. And this soul-union is, that 
close, faithful, holy, loving dependence upon God, and 
imitation of Him, which can alone produce the fruit of 
all good living. 

Now, to examine the characteristics of this Body must 
be a point of strong interest. I 7nust be able to dis- 
tinguish these from any of false pretensions ; and I must 
necessarily find some marks, or signs, of her Truth, by 
which I can satisfactorily determine whether or no I 
really attach myself to a Body possessing such Truth. 
What, then, let me ask of myself, are the notes or marks 
of the Church, according to the nature which I have set- 
tled really to belong to her ? 

The answer is obvious. If the Word, the Ministry, and 



68 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

the Sacraments, are instrumental toward the proving of 
her Body, they may be justly taken as the notes of her 
integrity ; and I must look, therefore, to find in each of 
these the characteristics of Truth — i. e., Divinity, Unity, 
and Inflexibility. It may be a slow process ; yet still, I 
cannot relinquish it. I have gone too far to recede. I 
feel too deeply interested in the issue, to shrink from the 
process of thought. I will commence with the first of the 
three — the Word. 

I fix upon this, then, as the first note, or mark of the 
Church of God — the guide by which to discover her exist- 
ence. The Word — that is, the Truth ; for the Word of 
God must be the Truth of God ; and His Truth given in 
that Word. For this reason is Jesus himself called the 
Word of God — as St. John saith, " The Word was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us ;"* who is also elsewhere styled 
the Truth, as He is the Life. It is, therefore, the first and 
plainest mark of the Church of Christ, to teach the Word 
of God, and convey His Truth to men ; which, as I before 
have seen, is Christ crucified for the sins of the 
world. Any society, therefore, or religious body, which 
claims to be the Body of Christ, must be found to possess 
this characteristic. She must contain the Word of God, 
and teach it. I do not mean, as a dead possession, im- 
practicable and theoretical. Not at all. But it must be 
Christ crucified for the sins of the world — as the only 

* John, i. 14. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. ^ 69 

name whereby men can be saved. Her doctrine must be 
the doctrine contained in the Holy Volume. She may 
not, she cannot in anywise contradict iU teaching. Now, 
it is clear that the Word of God may be distinguished as 
His manifested Word and His revealed Word, in the same 
way as His Truth may be. The manifested Word, or 
Truth, was Christ manifested in the flesh as the Re- 
deemer of the world.* The revealed Word, or Truth, 
is the Covenant built upon that manifestation, and the 
declaration of its design. The Manifestation was with- 
drawn from earth ; and the Revelation is alone consigned 
to the Church. It is, therefore, this Revelation which 
must be her test. The preaching and teaching of, as well 
as agreement with, this revealed Word, or Truth, must be 
the sign and token of her existence, who thus becomes the 
pillar and ground of the Truth. 

In searching, then, for the Church, I must be sure to 
look for the groundwork of God's revealed Truth : — that 
is, salvation through the alone merits of Christ ; and 
pardon, the free gift of God to a ruined world, springing 
from His abounding mercy ; the Covenant claim to which 
pardon is consigned to the administration of His Church. 
Any doctrine not contained in that Holy Word, any 
teaching disagreeing with that revealed Truth, must be 
an indication of error or falsity. For, as I before dis- 
covered, this great doctrine is called the Truth of God ; 
and the Church, as the pillar and ground of Truth, can 

* 1 John, i 2. 

3# 



70 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

only believe, preach, and teach it. If, therefore, the 
Church were to preach anything short of this, as the 
ground of salvation ; and place before the world any other 
means of atonement with God than the precious blood of 
Christ, she would prove herself false — by differing from 
the Truth, demonstrate herself untrue. 

For this cause, if I would go on to test the claims of 
any religious body, I must make it a first point to find 
whether that body be the pillar and ground of this great 
Truth of God ; does it teach and preach the Word^ as 
manifested and as revealed ? Does it offer to convey to 
my soul, in regular and ordained channels, the seal of the 
forgiveness of sins, through a crucified Redeemer ? and 
does it promise to my trembling heart, a spiritual life 
and strength derived from the Lamb of God, as tlie 
true sacrifice for sin, and given unto me as my Saviour's 
free, abounding gift, in those two Sacraments which are 
to become the seals and tokens of such Covenant be- 
tween me and my God ? This becomes a very important 
question; because, if any other plan be offered, it does not 
agree with what I have seen of the Truth of God. This, 
then, I make as a clear stand-point ; my first mark by 
which to discover the Church of God: the holding, teach- 
ing, and preaching of the Word — that is, the Revelation of 
God. 

This being settled, I must look upon the second test of 
tlae Church, and that is — the Ministry. This I must find 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 71 

(like the Truth) to be, One, Constant, and Divine. Was 
not this the claim of the first establishment of the Ministry ? 
Did not the Apostle St. Paul, when speaking of the Body 
of Christ, as the Church, write, " of which I am made a 
Minister, according to the dispensation of God ?•'* He 
then, evidently claimed for himself a Divine authority ; 
and shows that he placed the source of his commission in 
the great Head of the Body. The same Apostle also 
writes, in an another Epistle, " And He (that is, Christ,) 
gave, some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some 
Evangelists, and some Pastors, and Teachers, for the work 
of the Ministry, for the edifying of the Body of CHRisT."t 
Which words I conceive to assert, as positively as possible, 
the Divine origin of the Ministry to be something no less 
than Christ himself It appears to me perfectly plain, 
that the Apostle signifies that the Ministry was given and 
sent, in order to the building up of Christ's Body, which 
is the Church, and thus, for the purpose of conveying the 
Truth. Another passage to the same eflfect occurs to my 
mind. It is in the Epistle to the Corinthians, where the 
Apostle expostulates, " Who, then, is Paul, and who is 
Apollos, but Ministers by whom ye believe, even as 
the Lord gave to every man. ^ * * '^ For we are 
laborers together with God. Ye are God's building.J" 
By which I can only understand that the Apostle is ar- 

* Col. i. 25. t Eph. iv. 11, 12. t 1 Corinth, iii. 9. 



72 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

guing, that the Corinthian Christians should not attribute 
too much to their instrumentality, as though they them- 
selves were the authors of their salvation. Such was not 
the case. They were the Ministers only; instruments, 
effectual according as God had given them to every man 
for that purpose. Hence, what they had done was not their 
own doing ; it was God, effectual through them. Of course, 
then, if God had given them, and if the work which they 
had accomplished was not their doing, but God's, through 
them ; the Divine authority for their act and office is clearly 
assumed. 

But this is not all. The Ministry of the Church must 
be, not only Divine in its authority or power, but also 
Divine in its transmission or conveyance. In other words 
— not only must her Ministry have authority from 
Christ, originally, as the Head of the Church ; but, also, 
through Christ continually, as the Root of the Vine, by a 
transmission directly from the Divine. I become satisfied 
of this, by a recurrence to the first establishment of 
the Ministry, by the Great Head of the Body ; which was 
a direct, orderly, systematic sending of officers to their 
proper stations, by an authority peculiarly His own; and 
conveyed, in their solemn appointment to a sacred pur- 
pose, by a spiritual authority transmitted to them from the 
Father. This I find in the passage of St. Luke, where we 
are told that the Lord " called together his twelve 
disciples, and gave them power and authority over all 



HEART AND HOME. TRUTHS. 7ti 

devils, and to cure diseases."* Such is the appointment. 
The purpose for which they were sent as Ministers of the 
Body of Christ — that is, to carry on spiritual life through 
the administration of the Sacraments — is mentioned by St. 
Matthew, who says, that our Saviour gave charge unto 
His disciples, " Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost ;"t and adding, " teaching them to ob- 
serve all things that I have commanded you ;" under 
which head comes the Supper of the Lord. The spiritual 
power, as transmitted to them in a solemn personal act, St. 
John records in his last chapter — " Jesus said unto them, 
peace be unto you ! As my Father hast sent me, even so 
send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on 
them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever 
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto you ; and whosoever 
sins ye retain, they are retained. And, lo! I am with you 
always, even unto the end of the world. ":j: From all 
these passages, I gather that the Divine authority was also 
a Divine transmission, as a direct spiritual gift in their 
official actions ; and that, as the Saviour breathed on 
them, it was in order to convey to them the power of the 
Holy Ghost, to operate in those Sacraments which they 
were to administer ; and to be by them conveyed in the 
same manner, in a personal act, even as Christ sent them 
from the Father. For this cause, I understand this pro- 

* Luke, ix. 1. t Math. xx. 19. t John, xx. 23 



74 HEAET AND HOME TllUTES. 

mise, *' Lo ! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world," to be an official, as a real promise. Of course, by 
the word, " you," I do not suppose our Saviour to mean the 
Apostles themselves, in their individual capacity ; for they 
did not, as they could not, continue unto the end of time : 
but, by " you," it is perfectly clear He signifies His Minis- 
try, as deriving their power successively from Him, unto the 
end of the world ; even as He had from the Father derived 
His authority. This could be done only in one way — i. e., 
by the transmission and conveyance, from each to another, 
of that official power, in a harmonious line and order, suit- 
able to the Truth of that Body for whom He appointed 
them. 

That I am not mistaken in such an inference, and am 
really following out the line of the Truth, in these 
thoughts, some other passages of the Apostles' writings 
assure me. I know that I can, in a few moments, turn 
to several places which imply the direct conveyance of 
such authority and power, not only from Christ, but 
through others, as an official appointment for the constitu- 
tion of His Church. So St. Paul, writing to Timothy, 
whom he styles his " son in the faith," says, " Where- 
fore, I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift 
of God which is in Thee by the putting on of my hands.''* 
And that the Apostle meant by the term " gift," the autho- 
rity and power of the Holy Ministry, as conveyed by the 

* 2 Tim. i. 6. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 75 

laying on of his hands, appears evident to my mind, from 
a verse which follows almost immediately — " That good 
thing which was committed unto thee, keep, by the Holy 
Ghost, which dwelleth in us/'* Now, this Holy Ghost 
is the very gift which Christ gave, when He breathed 
on His Apostles, and said, " Receive ye the Holy 
Ghost." 

Again, in the Epistle to Titus, the same Apostle writes 
— " For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst 
set in order the things that are wanting ; and ordain elders 
in every city, as I had ordained thee.f Whatever, then, 
was the authority and power of the Apostle, or, if he had 
any at all more than others, that power he appears to have 
committed to Titus ; — not as a dead gift, nor as a finished 
office ; but in order that he should transmit that same 
power (exactly as the Apostle had done, by the laying on 
of hands) to others who were to be Ministers of the mys- 
teries of God. If, then, St. Paul himself had really any 
Divine commission, that commission was to be extended, 
through Titus, to other inheritors of its power ; and the 
Divine investiture which he had received from Christ was 
to be continued in them, as an authority equally Divine, 
being thus received from the Great Head of the Church. 
So, also, another passage of the same Apostle implies — 
" Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in 
Jesus Christ ; and the things which thou hast heard of me, 

* 2 Tim. i. 14. t Titus, i. 5. 



76 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach 
others also."'^ 

Upon the whole, therefore, I am satisfied that the Min- 
istry of the Church is Divine, not only in its institution, 
but in its transmission ; and answers, in this point, to the 
characteristic^ of the Truth. If, then, I am to find 
the Church of God, it must be found with such a 
Ministry — an Order of men appointed for the preaching of 
the Word and the Ministry of the Sacraments. Divinely 
appointed, too, not merely in their first establishment, as of 
the Divine will ; but in their transmission of that Divine 
authority and presence received from Christ himself, as a 
power by which they, unto the end of the world, truly carry 
on the Covenant of God upon His Truth, and administer 
to mankind the two Sacraments in which Christ's salva- 
tion is sealed by faith, unto all the children of God. 

Now, I come to my other tests of Truth, in this mark or 
sign of the Church. Not only must the Ministry be Di- 
vir^e, but it must be United and Constant. According to 
this, how will the note of the Church at the present day 
stand ? Must one token of the Church be a Ministry 
united in its constitution, through all ages, without contra- 
diction or discrepancy, as well as Divine ? Certainly ; if 
it is to be true. 

Let me then see how I can best consider this, and place 
the matter so as to most correctly view the nature of 

* 2 Tim. ii. 1, 2. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 77 

unity in the Ministry, through all time. Stay! I see I 
mistake myself. That word was an error. But, in fact, 
the mistake suggests the best way of thinking upon this. 
The unity of Truth must be a perpetual unity ; and not 
only perpetual, but universal. Hence, the unity of the 
Ministry in the Church must be not only one of time, but 
also of space. And, of the nature of Truth, I hold that it 
is an absolute necessity that, whatever be the Church of 
Christ, it must present the token of a Ministry which is 
the same in constitution, and does not contradict that 
which has been in all time, and in all regions. This 
is a very wide assumption ; and by its width, sadly nar- 
rows what is left exterior to it. Can I prove it vSO ? 

Yes ; if I start with the assertion that a Divine Minis- 
try has existed, in three Orders, through all time. That is 
to say, through all time where a Ministry exterior to the 
family or patriarchial institution was given. As soon as 
the second stage of the Church, its national development 
was reached, and the special appointment of an Order of 
men as Ministers and Priests of the Most High was made, 
then, in its ordering by the Almighty, nearly three thou- 
sand years ago, I can instance the conveyance of the 
Covenant upon the Truth of Christ's atonement, by 
a Ministry of three Orders. Even then, in that far back 
age, I find that God appointed, in His Divine Wisdom, 
three Orders of Ministers to attend upon holy things, and 
to convey to His people, through the Sacraments of Cir- 



78 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

cumcision and Sacrifice, the pledge of His Covenant upon 
the Truth of the one great Sacrifice which was to come ; 
and these three Orders were then, High Priests, Priests, and 
Levites. 

I find the appointment of the third, or lowest Order — 
that of the Levites — in the Book of Numbers/^ They 
were appointed in the stead of the first-born of every 
family, who were claimed by the Almighty as His own, 
and who, in the Patriarchal age, were the Priests of the 
family. These were to be redeemed by the appointment 
of the tribe of Levi, w4io were to minister at the altar, 
and wait upon the higher Order of Priests and High 
Priests, in their officiation in the Sacrifices, &c. ; as 
Moses commanded — " Thou shalt give the Levites unto 
Aaron and his sons : they are wholly given unto Hjm, to 
do the service of the Tabernacle."! 

The next in order was the family of Aaron, which was 
chosen by the Almighty to be the Hne of succession of His 
Priests. The sons of Aaron were to be Priests and Minis- 
ters at the altar, in the more solemn performance of the 
Sacraments of Circumcision and Sacrifice. So we read in 
the same work, " Thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons to 
minister in their Priests' offices ;"J and then is given that 
fearful warning against assumption of the Priesthood — 
" The stranger that cometh nigh, shall be put to death. "§ 
Of these we read, " These are the sons df Aaron, the 

* Numb. iii. 5, 15. tNumb.iii. 7. J Numb. iii. 10. <^ Numb. iii. 10. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 79 

Priests which were anointed, whom he laid hand on, to 
minister in the Priests' office.* 

The third and highest Order was that of the Chief or 
High Priest, the head and director of the Jewish Church. 
This, at the first, was Aaron himself; and after him, in 
natural descent, his sons, generally in the order of their 
birthright. To him appertained the special privilege of 
entering once a year into the Holy of Holies, and of pre- 
senting an atonement for the sins of the people. Also to 
him was given the mysterious interpretation of the Truth 
of God ; so that, when clothed with the proper emblems 
of his sacerdotal office, together with the Urim and Thum- 
mim, he was enabled to disclose the secrets of the future, 
and prophesy that which was to come. 

Thus, in the earUest age of the national Church I find 
three Orders of the Ministry, as appointed by God Him- 
self, and as instruments by which He carried on the Cove- 
nant, upon the Truth of an atoning Lamb. That appoint- 
ment also was carried on inviolate, until the time of the 
enlargement of the Church to her catholic or universal de- 
gree. In the Book of Chronicles, many hundred years 
after their institution, we find record of the continuation of 
these Orders ; and at the manifestation of the Truth, in the 
person of Christ, there still remained with the chosen peo- 
ple of God, the three Orders of the Ministry, as the Divine 
appointment. 

* Numb. iii. 3. 



80 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

Now, in the enlargement and increase of the Church by 
Christ Jesus, and the alteration of character from tempo- 
ral to spiritual, was this continued ? That is the point to 
be settled in my mind. The presumption would be in the 
affirmative, if the unity of the Truth is' preserved. Can I 
find it so? Let me examine. 

Although the Covenant changed in its character, 
nothing was abolished or destroyed ; for our Lord declares, 
" I come not to destroy the law or the prophets ; I come to 
fulfil."* Nothing was really annihilated. The three 
Orders of the Ministry were also re-estabHshed in the 
Catholic or Universal Church, by the Divine Power, as a 
fact, although changed in their features. This becomes 
evident to me, on looking at the first appointment by Jesus 
of His Ministry. St. Luke tells us, that Christ " called 
His twelve disciples together, and gave them authority 
over all devils, and to cure diseases ; and sent them to 
preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick."f In 
this I find plamly and indubitably two Orders in the 
Church : — first, Christ, sent of the Father, to be the Head 
of the Church, and governing and sending those under 
Him ; and, second, the Twelve Disciples, or Apostles, or- 
dained by Him to preach the Kingdom of God, and to 
whom He gave power and authority over all devils. 
They were under the personal command of Christ, who, as 
the Great High Priest, made them Priests unto Himself. 

* Math. V. 17. t Luke, ix. 12. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 81 

This accounts satisfactorily for two Orders. Now, in run- 
ning my eye along, as far as the next chapter of that 
Gospel, I find mention made of yet another, and third 
Order, more numerous than the second, as it would appear 
also that they were inferior : — " The Lord appointed other 
seventy, also, and sent them two and two before His face, 
into every city whither He Himself would come."* This, 
then, presents the third Order, as the Levites, to minister 
to the High Priest. That they were inferior, the greater 
number itself would show, in the same relation as 
the Twelve Apostles to Christ. But the commission 
given was also different ; they were sent as the lowest 
Order, simply to minister unto Christ, by preparing His 
way in preaching the Kingdom of God. Power and 
authority over devils, in their own person, was not given 
them ; and their authority was only operative by the name 
of Jesus. 

At the very foundation of the Christian Church, then, I 
can perceive the same three Orders ; and the constitution 
of the Jewish Church I therefore discover to be unimpaired. 
There was no contradiction. Although that succession 
was changed to a spiritual succession, and to be handed 
down from spiritual father to spiritual son, as the inheri- 
tance divinely received from Christ, yet the reality was 
the same. 

Neither was all this extinguished, when Christ ascended 

* Luke, X. 1 . 



82 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

to the right hand of the Father. The unity of the Truth 
was still preserved. The time of the Apostles gives me 
evidence abundant of the same threefold office in the 
Ministry, vv^hen viewed in connection with the past ; for 
in the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus, he charges him to 
ordain Elders or Presbyters, as he had ordained him ; and 
he speaks of these Presbyters as Overseers or Bishops, 
whom he was to rule and govern. In this I see two 
Orders of the Ministry satisfactorily established : — first, 
Titus, ordained by the Apostle to fill his place in the 
Apostleship, and thus ordaining others as Presbyters or 
Bishops, and ruling over them according to his judgment. 
He was, therefore, certainly superior to these, and set over 
them, which will indicate two Orders. In the Epistle to 
Timothy, (holding a similar position to Titus), the same 
Apostle, after speaking of the Presbyters or Overseers, 
under his direction, mentions a third office — " Likewise, 
also, must the Deacons be grave, not double-tongued. 
Let them first be proved ; and then let them use the office 
of a Deacon."* Here again*, therefore, we find three 
Orders of the Ministry. Timothy and Titus, associated 
with the Apostle in his highest office of the Church, or- 
daining and ruling as such ; and under them the Presby- 
ters, Elders, or Bishops, as second in order ; and then the 
Deacons, as the third and lowest in that united, Divine 
Ministry. 

* 1 Tim. hi. 8. 



HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 83 

And thus it must continue of the nature of Truth to the 
present day, in the Church of God. The three Orders, 
which, by Divine appointment, in natural succession, 
ministered to the Covenant upon God's Truth, in the an- 
ticipated Sacrifice of Christ, I find to be still in the unity 
of that Truth — three Orders, in a spiritual succession, minis- 
tering to a like Covenant upon that one blessed Truth — 
forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Christ, as re- 
trospectively applied. 

I am, then, abundantly satisfied concerning what must 
be the token of the Church in her unity of the Ministry, 
through all time. It is that of a sacred. Divine, threefold 
Ministry, for the administration of God's Covenant upon 
the Sacrifice, through every age of the existence of such 
administered Covenant. 

But, though this may be settled, is there not a more 
difficult point in the unity of space ? Can I find that cha- 
racteristic of Truth verified in the testimony of ex- 
perience ? Has a threefold Ministry the consent of Truth, 
in all regions ? 

Ah! Here I come to a pause. As I look around, my 
old grief returns. How distracted and divided the Chris- 
tian world ! What difference and strife is to be seen ! 
Can I possibly find any unity at all in different portions of 
the Christian world, setting aside a unity upon this three- 
fold Ministry ? 

In this country, indeed, where error and divisions are 



84 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

multiplied, it would seem as though the unity of space 
would fail, and that the united testimony of the great mass 
of the Christian world would be against the integrity of a 
threefold Ministry ; and yet I know that would be a most 
unfair view. I must look at the whole world, in such a 
consideration, and take the unity of all Christendom. 
Now, what are the great, the leading divisions of religious 
faith ? Geographers divide them into the Churches of 
Rome, of Greek and Protestant separation. I am ready 
to divide them into another separation ; but not yet. 
Taking the geographers' scale, I find the following propor- 
tion: — Church of Rome, 120 millions; Greek Church, 70 
millions ; Protestant Churches, 50 millions. What, then, 
is the view of the majority of these, respecting a threefold 
Ministry ? Greek and Roman Christians tenaciously hold 
as their religious creed, that a Ministry was divinely ap- 
pointed in those Orders, to be successively derived from 
Christ. This gives me at once 190 millions attesting the 
Truth, to about 50 millions disregarding it. But that, 
even, does not present the true view of proportion, I am 
satisfied ; for out of that 50 millions reckoned as Protes- 
tant, are to be deducted all those holding the faith of Epis- 
copacy, and the necessity of three Orders as, — the Church 
of England, the Episcopal Church in America, the 
Swedish, Danish, and Moravian Churches ; which, if I 
subtract, I shall not have, at the largest computation, 
30 milKons who reject the belief in a threefold Ministry ; 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 85 

the rest (being two hundred and ten or twenty millions) 
making that point one of settled importance as part of 
their religious belief. From this it would surely appear, 
that the unity of space does attest the Truth of the exist- 
ence of the Church of God ; and that the great, over- 
whelming majority of the Christian world holds, at the 
present day, the necessity of a Ministry, divinely ap- 
pointed in three Orders, for the carrying on the Church of 
Christ. Therefore I conclude that the token may be 
found, that not only all ages, but all regions, witness to the 
Truth of God. 

And yet this is a new thought to me. I had not ex- 
pected to find it thus. I little supposed, the first evening 
that I sat down with anxious heart, bewailing the strife 
and contradiction of the religious world, that I should ever 
see so much of unity in any one point. I was very differ- 
ently impressed. Forming my ideas by the circumstances 
immediately around me, and the very great preponderance 
of conflicting creeds in this my own country, I had never 
looked upon those holding the views of Episcopacy, in any 
other light than as a small body entertaining peculia 
notions — a mere handful, as it were, among the multitude. 
How differently I see it now ! The handful are, rather, 
those who deny a threefold Ministry : the multitude, those 
who retain it. And then, again, that handful itself is 
divided and broken, and must be split up into the almost 
innumerable — I was going to say, grains of sand ; but we 

4 



86 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

will call it parcels of opinion, represented by Methodists, 
Baptists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Universalists, Congre- 
gationalists, &c., &c. 

Now, one more point, and I may sum my conclusion. 
Constancy remains to be settled, as the last characteristic 
of Truth, and a note of the Church. What can that be? 
and, how do I see it sustained ? 

By Constancy in the Ministry, I can only understand a 
Ministry of just and unbroken descent. Such was the 
Priesthood of the Jewish Covenant, descending as a heritage 
from father to son, uninterrupted, through all ages. Such, 
then, must be the Ministry of the Church of Christ ; — one 
not diverted from the Truth of Gon, but holding the due 
and proper subordination of superior and inferior officers, as 
a direct relation to the Head of all. The difference will be 
this. I know that there are several societies who retain 
the title of three Orders of Ministry, and make a distinc- 
tion (only according to their convenience for social gov- 
ernment) between these Orders. This is contrary to the 
true constancy of the Ministry. The reality of that must 
be, three Orders as really and truly distinct — one as the 
chief and head, upon whom they depend, and from whom 
(through Christ) they derive their authority and position. 
This alone can make the unity of the body, the subordina- 
tion and system, which I saw prevailed in all the other 
kingdoms of God. Holding firm to this, and rejecting all 
separation from that Order, is the inflexibility of the 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 87 

Ministry, and is the final point connected with that 
token or sign of the Church, as her distinguishing charac- 
teristic. 

This may, for the present, conclude my meditation, I 
have pondered sufficiently upon this to-night ; and thank- 
ful am I that I see as much as I now do of the Truth. 
Two of the characteristics of the Church are settled, to my 
own mind. I know what to look for in searching after the 
Body of Christ. I see, first of all, the bright mark of the 
Word or Truth of God — the teaching, preaching, and up- 
holding that blessed Truth given in the Sacred Word — 
Jesus, the Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the 
world — Christ crucified, as the only fountain of pardon 
and peace, the only means of forgiveness of sins. There 
is no truth of God in any body denying this ; there can 
be none in any creed offering less than this : for this is all 
and alone the foundation of any Covenant of God. Yes, 
and it must be, the Christ : not Christ, the man ; but the 
man, Christ — God over all, blessed for evermore — the 
"only begotten Son of the Father — full of grace and 
Truth."^ 

And then I see the next token of the Church in her 
Ministry. I must search for this, as a Ministry — One — 
Constant, and Divine — which shall be to me the means by 
which that blessed Truth and Word of God, a crucified 
Redeemer, shall be conveyed. These, divinely appointed, 

* John i. 14. 



88 HEABT AND HOME TEUTHS. 

shall preach to me that Christ, as my only refuge ; 
and to them, ''preaching as they are sent/'* I shall 
hearken ; and my " faith" shall come by " hearing of that 
Word of God ;"t ^^d to my believing, repenting heart, 
they shall promise pardon and peace in that Covenant of 
Jesus, reconcihng me to God ;J and then washing me from 
my sin, through the " washing of regeneration ;"§ they shall 
administer to me the pledge of the '"renewing of the 
Holy Ghost," even that " Baptism by which 1 shall put on 
Christ ;"|1 and finally, as stewards '' of God's mysteries,1[ 
they shall feed me with the blessed food for my new life, 
even the Spirit of Christ, shadowed under bread and 
wine ; and so I shall " eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and 
drink His blood,"** fulfil my soul-union with God ; and 
thus I shall "dwell in Christ, and He in me."tt 

Oh, God ! can this be true ? My Redeemer, Holy 
Lord! wilt Thou, indeed, dwell with men ? and through 
these appointed channels. Thyself come unto me ? 
Blessed ! blessed be Thy Holy name ! — adored forever 
Thy mercy, grace, and love ! Oh ! let me bow my won- 
dering heart in lowliest, humblest prayer, and cry, " What 
is this, that my Lord should come unto me! I am not 
worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof. Never- 
theless, be it unto me, even according to Thy Word." 

•Luke,ix. 2. tRom. x. 17. $2Cor. vi. 18. ^ Titus iii. 5. II Gal. iii. 2. 
IT 1 Corinth, iv. 1. ** John, vi. 53. ft 1 John, iii. 2 1. 



SOLILOQUY VL 



INITIATION INTO TRUTH. 

How sweet was the glow upon my heart, last night, as 
I concluded my meditation ! How my soul seemed to 
warm within me as I traced out the gracious provision of 
the mercy of God, in the establishment of His Truth ! Is 
it always so, when we give ourselves to the contemplation 
of sacred things ? I believe it is. Strange, then, that re- 
ligious contemplation is so little practised — nay, that I 
have, myself, so little practised it. 

In our work-day age, we imagine it a waste of time ; 
and we are not content unless we are all " up and 
doing," in a different sense from the poet's thought. To 
be still — to commune with our own hearts— to do nothing 
but think upon the awful and tremendous realities of our 
spiritual life, would be accounted sheer idleness. And 
yet, through this remissness, we are kept strangers to the 
sweetest emotions of calm delight which we can expe- 
rience. I have found it so. How I wonder at it ! Men 
run here and there for spiritual meat, and grudge if they 
be not satisfied. They attend sermons unweariedly ; fol- 



90 HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. 

low up meetings continually; do anything to stir up in 
their dull souls a feeling of religion, and yet never think 
that they may sit down in the quiet of devout contempla- 
tion, and learn more and feel better than in any irrupti^e 
struggle of soul. 

I know this is so. The glow and delight in my heart 
yet lingers, from the last evening, and incites me with 
strong desire to drink of that same precious fountain of 
Truth again, and again in the " night, to commune with 
my heart and search out my spirit." 

1 had finished the consideration of the first two charac- 
teristics of the Church — the Word and the Ministry — and 
brought my mind to a clear conviction respecting what 
must be the nature of both these, in the integrity of that 
which would be the Church of God. 

I am now to take up the last of the marks of the 
Church, which is the Sacraments. I need not examine 
these precisely, as I have the former ; although the same 
tests may be justly applied. I will rather take a compara- 
tive view, and place the progression of the Church upon 
the ground of Constancy, to discover their true character. 

Neither is this at all an unimportant point. By the ad- 
ministration of these Sacraments in their integrity, the 
Church must ever be known ; inasmuch as they are the 
channels through which spiritual life is conveyed to the 
whole Body ; and by which, from the Head, even Christ, 
is received all spiritual strength and pledge of the Cove- 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 91 

nant — grace. So far, it is of the most intense necessity 
that they shall be duly and traly administered. I must 
thoroughly understand what constitutes them, in their 
perfection. Here, then, again, comes up the point I had in 
view last night, and again I perceive the unity of the 
whole — that is, the integrity of the Ministry — as necessary 
to the validity of the Sacraments. They cannot be really 
the Sacraments of Christ, unless administered as Chr-ist 
designed. They can therefore be administered only by 
those whom Christ appointed for that purpose, as stewards 
of the mysteries. It requires no extraordinary brilliancy 
of intellect to discover this. It is self-evident. Either 
the Sacraments can be administered by every and any 
man, or else only particularly by some. If by any and all, 
there is need of no such thing as a Ministry, in any shape 
or kind. If only by some particularly, then those who are 
to do this must be appointed by the same authority which 
gave the Sacraments. Unless, therefore, I should be pre- 
pared to assert that any man can administer Baptism 
properly and rightly, or celebrate the Holy Communion 
duly and justly, I must admit that Christ Himself ap- 
pointed some men particularly for the purpose. And, 
therefore, on considering the last sign of the Church and 
her Sacraments, I must understand, as a fixed principle, that 
a true Ministry shall perform them. 

But now I am faced with another difficulty. I know 
that a large religious Body, claiming unity with the Head, 



92 HEART AND HOME TllUTHvS. 

declare that there are seven Sacraments, under some cir 
cumstances necessary to true spiritual life. I have spoken 
to myself of two only. What shall I now say ? How 
can I prove the right ? By the Truth. My tests are here 
valuable as ever. Divinely appointed, there are but two 
that I can find in the Holy Word. Incontestibly, Christ 
gave only Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. These 
alone have a directly Divine authority proving them true. 
No Sacraments, so far as I have seen, have ever been 
mediately appointed — that is to say, by human authority, 
under a Divine influence. That would not give them the 
Divine authority which Truth must possess. They 
require the direct and positive institution of God Himself. 
Hence I infer that there can be two Sacraments only, 
from the fact that Christ, in person, appointed but two — 
Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. Then, again. Unity, as 
the sign of Truth, demands the same thing. There were 
only two Sacraments in the Old Dispensation, as the means 
of anticipatively applying the benefits of the Great Sacri- 
fice ; and we ought only to look for two in the New. Un- 
less there is alteration and change of fact, (which there 
cannot be in Truth), the instruments must remain the 
same. There must continue the same channels for the 
same conveyance of the Great Truth, although they may 
be developed to a higher nature. Circumcision and 
Sacrifice were the only Sacraments of salvation to the 
Jew ; and spiritual circumcision and spiritual sacrifice 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 93 

can be alone, by the law of unity, the Sacraments for sal- 
vatioa to the Christian. Upon these two alone, in the 
first ages of the Church, thousands of years agone, 
the membership and blessings of the Covenant hung. 
They were temporal acts and carnal rights, yet conveying 
all the blessings of that temporal covenant, and having ap- 
pended to them a further eternal blessing which the dark- 
ness of that Dispensation shrouded. Still, they were simple 
and true acts. They promised and gave all the advan- 
tages attendant upon membership with the Church of 
God ; and in them and through them was promised a feli- 
city to be obtained only from the coming Messiah, 
Therefore, in the development of the Church, and her ad- 
vancement from purely temporal unto truly spiritual na- 
ture, this instrumentality, I am sure, could not be altered 
in fact, any more than the Church herself: it must remain 
at unity with the past. If there needed but two channels 
for the conveyance of life in the old Covenant upon the 
Truth, there cannot and must not be but two in the new 
Covenant, without a difference which the unity of Truth 
cannot bear. The nature of them must indeed be 
changed, in order to meet the advanced requirements of a 
higher Dispensation and a purer Covenant ; but this is 
only their fulfilment and perfection, such as is the perfec- 
tion of the man maturing from the child — changing, indeed, 
from the past, yet without altering of his personal iden- 
tity. 

4* 



94 



HEART A^B HOME TRUTHS. 



This, then, need never trouble me more. I see that 
Divinity and Unity point out two Sacraments, and the 
two that Christ ordained as marks of the Church of 
Christ. I need only, therefore, examine these; and the 
first, evidently, is that of Baptism. 

Baptism ! — a sprinkling of water, or an immersion into a 
river ! or a pouring out of a quantity upon the head ! 
This, the great instrument of which I have been con- 
sidering ! Can it be that so utterly insignificant an act 
can be so immensely important, and have its bearing upon 
the immortal soul of man ? As I look upon yonder spark- 
ling river, and see its silver thread of light reflecting back 
the stars, do I look upon an element possessing so miracu- 
lously powerful a virtue as to recreate the soul ? Blind 
folly ! No ! Insensate wandering of mind, to even dream 
this ! Water hath no power, sprinkled, poured, or flooded, 
to take away my sin. There is naught residing in it, 
eflfectual to my soul's health. I must look further than it, 
for anything of its power. It is only the sacred Truth of 
God, which is available to me. But, then, if to this means 
it shall so please Him as to append the promise of His 
Truth, and to obedience He will pledge His Grace ; then, 
indeed, may water become transformed, and it shall have 
what He has given it, a power mysterious — not of its 
nature, but through His grace — to bring a soul condemned 
within the bounds of His undying love. 

This is the efficacy of \Yater, in Baptism, I feel assured. 



HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 95 

They would cheat my mind who would fain tell me of 
some inherent power, inseparable from its consecrated use, 
and like some solemn charm, operative to the inevitable re- 
creation of the soul. No ! All its power can only come 
from Him who is the Truth. If He shall make its use the 
test of holy faith and humble love ; and if it please Him to 
appoint that lustrating, outward sign, as a pledge of a re- 
sembling inward grace, to Him alone be all the glory ; the 
instrument hath none. Yet, is it hereby less valuable ? 
No — according to His command, it hath all that He has 
given it ; it is worth all that He has seen fit to append to 
its use ; and to my obedience it is as indispensably essen- 
tial as is the very Truth itself. 

In looking at this rite, I wish to examine closely both 
phases. First, this exterior operation — the outward ap- 
pointment for the conveyance of the Truth ; and then, the 
interior, or effect of the Truth so conveyed. 

First, then — The external evidence of Baptism, as the 
outward appointment for the conveyance in the Church of 
the Truth of Christ's atonement. 

Measurably, I see, I have gone over this ground, when I 
reflected upon the number of the Sacraments. Baptism, I 
know, was no new thing, when given as the initiation into 
the new CovenSint. It was not new as a figure ; it was 
not new as a fact ; it was not new as a Sacrament. As a 
Sacrament, it was not new, because it was only the ad- 
vancement of that which had been before in Circumcision. 



96 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

Circumcision had been the rite initiatory into the promise 
of the blessings of God's Truth ; and Baptism succeeded, 
as the rite initiatory into the same blessings. It was not 
new as a fact ; for I have indubitable evidence that the 
Jews practised Baptism before the coming of Jesus, upon 
proselytes and females. Neither was it new as a" figure ; 
for the baptism of the proselytes was only an emblem of 
the purgation which they should undergo from the impure 
and idolatrous rites of the heathen. I am not, then, to sup- 
pose that Baptism came in as so new an appointment, as 
so strange a ceremony, that 1 must cast about to under- 
stand its nature or its effect. I must see it simply as the 
continuation and the perfection of what was a grosser 
figure ; and in the initiatory rite of Circumcision, for the 
Old Covenant, its effects and benefits, I must discover the 
beginning of what Baptism is, as the initiative rite for the 
New. The latter only the elevation and completion of the 
former. 

As, then, by Circumcision, the Jew was admitted into 
the company of the Covenant, and received a title to sal- 
vation — by it made one of the people of God, according to 
outward evidence — through it obtained a title to an inheri- 
tance in the promised land, and thus received in his flesh 
the pledge of God's Truth through a coming Messiah ; in 
the same way Baptism becomes, in the New Dispensation, 
the external evidence of union with the Body of Christ, 
the company of the faithful ; and is the means by which 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 97 

men are initiated into that fold. Circumcision, therefore, 
being an absolute and indispensable necessity to the Jewish 
Church — an integral part of the same ; Baptism, as its per- 
fection and completion, must be the same in the Christian 
Church ; and the promises of eternal life must now be as 
really tied to it as they formerly were to Circumcision. 
Whatever were the benefits of the one, are, in an extended 
sense, the benefits of the other. The Church, in the na- 
tional development, could not exist without Circumcision ; 
neither can the universal development exist without Bap- 
tism. Circumcision was the only means by which the 
Jewish Church was entered, and through which the pledge 
of salvation was conveyed ; and thus Baptism is the only 
means by which the Catholic Church is entered, and the 
pledge of salvation received. 

I might be satisfied, I think, with this, looking simply at 
the analogy of the case and the unity of the Truth ; but it 
will be as well to push the matter as far as it can go. I 
will appear to the direct assertion of the Holy Word, upon 
this point, to see whether or no it will present the same 
view. St. Paul treats of this subject in his Epistle to the 
Colossians, and he writes — "In whom ye are circumcised, 
with the Circumcision made without hands, in putting off 
the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of 
Christ : buried with Him in Baptism, wherein also ye are 
risen with Him, through faith of the operation of God."* 

* Col., ii. 3. 



98 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 



In which passage I perceive that the Apostle speaks of 
Baptism as conveying to all the members of the Holy Head 
the benefits of His Circamcision, by a Circumcision made 
without hands — i. e., the Circumcision of the heart, of 
which their Baptism was the figure — the outward sign and 
token. Now, if the Apostle puts Baptism forward as 
taking the place of Circumcision, and to fill its office, I 
must be able to find it as a means of salvation, because I 
know Circumcision was this— that is to say, an instrument 
by which the Covenant of Truth was obtained. Nor will 
proofs of this be wanting. It is the strong language of St. 
Peter — " Even Baptism doth also now save us.'''* How 
does he mean ? As a final act ? As a completed effect ? 
Assuredly not. No such monstrosity could have come 
into his mind. It saves us only in the same way that Cir- 
cumcision saved the Jews ; as the Apostle expresses it — 
" By the answer of a good conscience towards God ; bij 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.''' That is to say, by obe- 
dience to the command, the benefits of Christ's death 
and resurrection avail to each member, in i\\Q promise of 
salvation. In the same way, the Apostle St. Paul distinctly 
puts it — " Not by works of righteousness which we have 
done, but according to His mercy. He saved us, by the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; 
which He shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ 
our Saviour; that, being justified by His grace, we should 



*1 Peter, iii. 21. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 99 

be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life."* 
Nay, why do I ponder yet, so far off from the Author 
Himself. What said Jesus? "He that beUeveth and is 
baptized, shall be saved."t Faith and Baptism, joint in- 
struments to that effect. 

I ask no more, to show me the exterior position of Bap- 
tism in the Church. This will abundantly suffice. I will 
now turn to the interior operation, to examine that token 
of the same. 

I am not now to be persuaded that Baptism is a mere 
performance of an outward rite. Perhaps some time since 
I might have thought so. I remember that I once looked 
upon it as a mere formality, necessary to the observance 
of an outward connection with a religious body, but 
nothing more. I have learned something in these, my 
meditations. Oh ! how solemn and fearful now appear all 
instruments by which spiritual hfe is carried on, and Bap- 
tism as one of them ! I can no more speak of it lightly, or 
treat it forgetfully. I certainly have always known that, 
by Baptism the Word of God declares we " put ofi 
Christ ;"J but yet I never realized what that meant. 
Now, I begin to do so. It is this, in fact, which I see to 
have been the great advance of Baptism, (as a Sacrament,) 
beyond Circumcision. In Circumcision, the pledge of sal- 
vation was given, but nothing more. There it ended. 
Man was to struggle onward, in an obedience devoid of 

* Titus, iii. 5, 6, 7. t Mark, xvi. 16. t Galat. iii. 27 



100 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

any extraordinary helps," or graces. When the rite was 
performed, the Covenant was sealed in and through a car- 
nal obedience, and that was all. Baptism, on the other 
hand, becomes a spiritual Covenant ; and the administra- 
tion of the rite is accompanied with the helps of the Spirit. 
The pouring out of water on the person baptised, is only em- 
blematic of the pouring out of the Spirit upon the heart which 
is therein pledged and covenanted. By Baptism, man, who 
is born in sin, and in a state of wrath — his heart alienated 
from God, and his nature unblessed by the visitations of 
the purchased Spirit of Christ ; such an one is born again 
into a new state and condition.* Not only is his body 
outwardly united to the company of God's promised peo- 
'ple, and by that rite received into the number of the 
elect,"! but his soul also is brought into a state of amity 
and communion with God. J His spiritual being is vivified. 
The breath of a new life breathes upon him.§ The extra- 
ordinary helps and assistances of the Spirit of Christ (the 
purchase of His death) hang like a new atmosphere round 
the soul, seeking to arouse in it the breath of the new ex- 
istence ; and so to enable it to work out, in spirit-life, that 
change of heart and of being which is a new creature in 
Christ Jesus. || By the very Covenant of that Sacrament, 
the Spirit is poured out upon such a heart, and the soul is 
placed in that new state of capability for intercourse with 

*^l John, iii. 1, 9. t Peter, v. 13. t Rom. v. 1. ^ Ezek. xxxvii. 1, 10. 
J 3 Corinth. V. 17. 



HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 101 

God which is called in Scripture the regeneration, or new 
birth. So speaks the Redeemer, '' Verily I say unto you, 
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
enter into the kingdom of God."* And the Apostle St. 
Paul tells us, in his Epistle to Titus, that, we are saved only 
by the mercy of God, through the washing of regeneration 
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. In which words I see 
the instrumentality of Baptism and the new life plainly set 
forward. 

As, therefore, the Church of Christ is to convey to man 
spiritual existence in the same order and harmony as the 
natural life, and that life to be drawn from Christ the 
Head, Baptism becomes the channel through which that 
life is begun, in its spiritual effects. By nature, the soul is 
dead. It is unable to understand or receive the things of 
God. It is out of His Covenant. It is open to His wrath. 
To give life to the soul — spiritual life to the man — he must 
be boi'n again. He must be placed in a new position. 
His soul must be surrounded by the special influence of 
God's Spirit, as one in a covenanted state of favor. He 
must have given to him, by pledge, that which by nature 
he cannot have — the extraordinary co-operation of the 
Holy Ghost, to wait upon His own sincere endeavors to- 
ward the work of his salvation. Therefore, he must be 
spiritually born again. Both body and soul must be put 
in a new state and condition ; which condition is the 

* John, iii. 5. 



102 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

blessed privilege of all those who are by Baptism made 
members of Christ, and thus covenanted with to receive 
from Him as the Head that Holy Gho^t which can alone 
renew the heart ; and the submission to which — the follow- 
ing of which, in all the fullness of spirit life — shall mak^ 
that new man, which, '' after Christ, is created in 
righteousness and true holiness.""^ 

^ Is this, then, the renewing of the man ? By no means ; 
and I must be careful to prevent confusion in my mind 
upon this point. This change of state is not necessarily a 
change of heart. Although by this act, and in this Cove- 
nant Sacrament, a man is regenerated and born again, of 
water and the Holy Ghost, yet he is not by that made a 
new man, nor his heart changed. That renewed man, and 
that changed heart, is to be the great labor of his existence; 
and the vast purpose of that spiritual life is to become re- 
newed day by day,t to the growth of the stature of a per- 
fect man,J in Christ Jesus. If I look at the natural 
world, it will teach me this. God will not contradict Him- 
self Harmony will be in all his actions. Spiritual life is 
bestowed as all life. How then is it with the little infant, 
born into the world ? Is not it in a new state and condi- 
tion? Most assuredly — a condition entirely new to the 
past. And yet it may be dead and lifeless. Unless there 
be a vital principle active in it, hirth is not life; and, al- 
though the atmosphere of life hang around it — the air kiss 

* Eph. iv. 24. t 2 Cor. iv. 16. X Ephes. iv. 13. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 103 

its lips, the light touch its lids, and all the means of life 
wait upon its being — yet, if that vital principle be not there, 
it is horn in vain. Unless prior to the birth, the mysterious 
quickening of life has taken place, its birth is nothing ; its 
means of existence around it are nothing ; the new atmos- 
phere waiting upon its reception is as nothing. It is not a 
new being. So with the soul of man. It may be born 
again in Baptism, into a new world ; it may, through that 
instrumentahty, be brought into a new condition ; the new 
atmosphere of the Spirit of God may hang round it, seeking 
to stir it unto new life ; and yet, unless the vital principle 
— the implanted Spirit of God — have first quickened it unto 
repentance, vain the new birth ; it is as lifeless and dead as 
the natural body born without the vital principle. It is 
only to the soul where the germ of God's Spirit has moved 
and stirred, causing the emotions of repentance and the 
yearnings of faith : — only to such a soul does that new 
birth of Baptism bring a new creature, which, with the 
change of state, seeks and strives after a change of heart ; 
and which, through the extraordinary helps and assistances 
of the Holy Ghost, in that new stale, by daily renewing, 
shall at last arrive to the full stature of a man, in Christ 
Jesus.* 

Oh ! " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Ch!;ist, who hath so blessed us with all spiritual 
blessings in Christ Jesus,!" ^iid provided so simple, so 

* Ephes. iv. 13. fEphes.i. 3. 



104 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

harmonious, so perfect a manner of gaining everlasting 
life. " Marvel not that ye must be born again."* Why 
should I ? What mystery is there in this, that I have not 
pictured every day of my life ? And, if Baptism *' does 
save us,"t surely I know that it is no mere putting away of 
the filth of the flesh, or 'outward formality, as a change of 
state or condition. No, indeed. It is the spiritual life 
which that is intended to convey, by which alone we can 
truly live ; and that life, while begun in Baptism, as a real, 
struggling existence, must have its germ in the repentance 
and faith springing from the implanted Spirit of God. 
Either, alone, I perceive to be vain. The vital principle of 
repentance and faith is imperfect, unless with it I am born, 
through Baptism, into that new world in which I live by 
the breath of the Spirit of God, as its atmosphere. And 
thus, also, the birth into that Covenant and state is vain, 
unless accompanied by that vital principle of repentance 
and faith, alone constituting its true value. 

Is this true, in every case ? I believe it is. J can see 
no exception. Wherever the heart has become dead, 
through sin ; wherever the natural mind, in its growth, has 
shut out the life of God ; there must be this new life, be- 
ginning in the germ, and perfected in the birth. 

And yet, after all, I forget myself. So completely ab- 
sorbed in my own case, I have become oblivious to the fact, 
that my case, and the cases of those resembling me, are 

*John, iii. 7. + 1 Peter, iii. 21. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 105 

not the only ones. What is the operation of this initiation 
into Truth (the baptismal birth) upon childhood and help- 
less infancy? There, there can be no repentance and 
faith. How can they be born without the germ ? 

It would, indeed, appear to my mind an insuperable ob- 
stacle ; and I should be compelled to reject Baptism as a 
Sacrament, unable to take the place of Circumcision, in its 
applicability to infancy, were it not that that passage of our 
Lord's assertion comes to my mind, in which he declares, 
that these are those "who need no repentance."* Never 
was there the adult of whom this could be declared, I am 
well assured. But of childhood — holy, pure, undefiled in- 
fancy — it may be, and it is true. There, the implanted 
germ of God's Spirit, given unto the undying monitor 
which we call conscience — there that germ exists, in its 
pure, holy activity, unquenched, undefiled, and ready, with 
the new birth, to carry on the new existence. Original 
sin, (its sad, inherited possession) is not that which calls 
for a personal repentance ; and the guilt of its power is 
purged through the Covenant work, by the blood of the 
One Sacrifice. Repentance, then, is not required as the 
indication of the quickening power in infancy; nor is 
it needed. Faith, on the other hand, is guaranteed and 
pledged by those who are the sureties, and who manifest 
that faith in bringing the infant unto Baptism — a faith as 
really appertaining to it, in a prospective benefit, as the life 

* Luke, XV. 7. 



106 HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 

which it draws from its mother's breast. Then, offered in 
the purity of the undefiled germ, in the communicated and 
participated faith of the parental obedience, Baptism be- 
comes to it the new birth indeed ; the sprinkUng of water' 
— the washing of regeneration indeed. 

This, then, is the initiation into the Truth ; this the be- 
ginning and outset of that holy, heavenly existence, drawn 
from Jesus — the Way, the Truth, the Life. By this means, 
I may draw near to my God — consecrate myself unto Him 
— receive the pledge of salvation — be born into a new world 
— and then become an heir of everlasting life. So, too, 
may I bring my child, in his pure infancy, and consecrate 
him to my God, as fully as the Jew of old brought his 
child into the Covenant, and, through Circumcision, sealed 
him unto the promised mercy. Yes ; and although, alas ! 
to my child, with his natural life, I am the source of origi- 
nal corruption ; yet I see how, by my faithful obedience, I 
may place him in covenant with that Second Adam, who, 
through the laws of regeneration, shall beget him anew, 
and, washing away his natural turpitude, give unto him 
the spiritual strength by which he may "proceed from 
strength to strength, until to the God of gods he appears at 
Zion." 

Oh ! mercy transcendent ! Oh ! wisdom, skill, power, 
and love, beyond aught of human ken ! how shall my hum- 
ble soul adore ! As I gaze upward into the deepening 
vault of heaven — far, far into the immensity of space — my 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 107 

soul, overborne with the gush of thankful love, can find no 
words to tell its joys ; but only with the blazing worlds, 
throbbing in their multitude the silent song of creation's 
praise— pierce the still air of night with the soul-fraught 
cry— 

*' Oh, Jesus ! Lamb, once crucified 
To take our load of sins away ! 
Thine be the hymn which rolls its tide 
Along the realms of upper day." 



SOLILOQUY VIL 



BREAD OF TRUTH. 

It is one of the blessings of a rural home, that the sights 
and sounds of suffering from want are scarcely ever ex- 
pei'ienced. It is around the swarming cities that misery 
of that kind hovers. Unless arising from the grossest vice, 
or the most shameless indolence, in a country place of our 
land, suffering from want is unknown. There may not be 
plenty and abundance. Very many comforts and conve- 
niences of life, doubtless, are wanting. Nevertheless, the 
necessaries of life are all within the power, and it is a 
pleasant thought, as I look abroad over the face of the 
country to-night, that I do not behold a home where there 
is not enough, and to spare, of food and clothing. I do not 
believe that, in the whole length of this valley, were we to 
search it this evening, there would be found a single hearth 
where the plaint of hunger, or the moan of want, could be 
heard ; but in each and all, with satisfied necessities of the 
body. He giveth His beloved sleep. 

How different, how sadly different, in the great city's 
boundary ! How often my heart has ached, as, on the bit- 

5 



110 HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. 

ter, freezing blast of winter, the moan of helpless and 
suffering childhood has been borne. How often my soul 
has bled, when the howling of the winter wind has been 
answered by the feeble wailing of sOme unhoused, unfed, 
and unclothed child, shrinking its way to a dreaded and 
loathsome hiding-place, in solemn mockery called its home! 
How acute the pain with which, in the hurried mart, I 
have heard the plea, " Please, give me something to buy 
some bread," often false, often deceptive, no doubt ; and 
yet, how often deplorably true ! Alas ! for the necessities 
unmet, the wants unsatisfied, the hopes unfulfilled, which 
hang around thousands of city homes. Yet, why is 
it ? Did God make man in His own image, to suffer and 
starve? Is it any part of His economy that a needy frame 
should be deprived of its necessaries ? Or, did he create a 
body requiring constant supplies to preserve its strength 
and life, and yet withhold those supplies ? No ; not so. 
Man was created in God's image ; but he hath sought out 
many inventions. Earth can, as yet, yield food to all her 
children, if the accursed thirst for accumulation, and its 
strife, should be removed. As God first placed man to till the 
earth, as his duty and blessing conjoined ; so never has the 
position of man been bettered by change from that charge. 
They never wanted necessaries who held that position. 
Fulfilling His will, He gives them bread enough. 

I have been led to these thoughts more easily to-night, 
because my mind wishes to consider the provision of God 



1 



HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. Ill 

for His creatures. The question presents itself as one 
both temporal and spiritual. Does God provide for man ? 
He created him. He provided for the growth and increase 
of the species. By His Providence, not one hour passes 
but is the record of the beginning of many lives. And 
does His Providence end here ? Once launched into life, 
are their necessities forgotten by His power ? Temporally, 
does God bring man into the world, and make no provision 
for his support, and leave him to starve or die, as a blind 
chance shall dictate ? Spiritually — does he bring him, 
through a new birth, into a new world, and leave him then, 
helpless and unprovided for, to starve or die eternally ? It 
is no light question. The first phase 1 have almost an- 
swered to myself No man need suffer want, who is will- 
ing to place himself in the position for which he was 
created. As a tiller of the earth, in no country place need 
the industrious suffer. As an appendage to the human 
hive of struggling competition for wealth, he does not fulfil 
the Divine will in his creation, and can only expect to 
suffer. This is the answer to the temporal. Will it be 
different in the spiritual ? That is what I wish to know, 
in order to carry on the examination which I have com- 
menced. 

I considered the beginning of spiritual life last evening. 
The sacred importance of Baptism, as the initiation into 
Truth, and so the commencement of a new existence was 
then clear to me. It was my discovery, then, that by Bap- 



112 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS* 

tism I am born into the new world — Covenant, Church, or 
Body of Christ ; in order to receive from Him my spiritual 
life and strength. Therefore, Baptism becomes my new 
birth, as by it I am placed in a new state, and brought 
into Covenant connection with God, and have given to 
me all the life-preserving power of the Spirit. This, I saw, 
was the benefit of that Sacrament, to every rightly -re- 
ceiving soul. By this means, the soul of man is born into 
that new world, in which the Spirit of God, for a special 
help, surrounds the soul, as an atmosphere of life in its 
support. Therefore, like the new-born infant, all the 
powers of life and growth ai'e opened to it — all the means 
of increase placed within its grasp. Nevertheless, the 
actual benefits of this new birth, in operative power, depend 
upon the existence of a vital principle as its antecedent. 
Unless the soul has been quickened by the implanted 
Spirit, to repentance and faith, the soul, although really 
born again, and made a member of Christ's Body, is yet 
dead and lifeless. So that the new creature — the new be- 
being which the Spirit of Christ is designed to form — can 
only be gained in a Baptism where such precious vitality is 
found. In other words : Unless repentance and faith be 
the moving causes for Baptism in the adult ; or innocence 
and freedom from actual sin leaving unmarred the Divine 
germ in the infant ; such Baptism, although a new birth, 
does not secure a new life. 

All this, I think, I understand as the initiation into 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 113 

Truth, and the beginning of life. But this leads me on 
to the next necessary question which I just asked my- 
self. Is this all ? Does the Providence of Gop end 
here ? Is a means of life provided, and nothing more ? 
There is, evidently, something v^anting. I know that it 
is not enough that the infant be born into the world, 
even though vitality and strength accompany its birth. 
It must be nourished and strengthened. It must grow 
and increase to the stature and vigor of manhood. It 
must be nourished and supported, or else it will die, and 
its just gained existence cease. It is the same spirit- 
ually. The Body of Christ must supply this to His 
children. Not only must she, through Him^ give them life, 
but she must continue that life. It is not sufficient that 
she, through the Spirit of Jesus, bring them into a new 
world, a holy condition; but she must feed, strengthen, and 
support. Hence I infer, that Christ, when appointing His 
Church, must have given more than the Sacrament of 
Baptism unto her. He must have made provision for the 
after-growth and maturity of His children, and given 
somewhat to be their constant spiritual food and nourish- 
ment ; in which day by day strengthened, day by day re- 
newed in the inner man, they may at last attain the per- 
fection of manhood in Christ. 

Under this impression, it does not surprise me to find 
the second Sacrament coming in, as a necessity for 
spiritual life. This it is which nourishes the soul. From 



114 HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. 

this is derived the spiritual strength increasing every day. 
Through this holy channel is conveyed continually, ac- 
cording to their need, unto all the members of Christ, that 
Spirit of wisdom, of knov^^ledge, of strength, of holiness, 
w^hich must renew them daily — must minister constantly to 
their maturing grace, and nourish them up to everlasting 
life. 

Such is the analogy of the case. From this, it is plain 
to me that I should find the Holy Communion to be an in- 
tegral part of the Church, as a note and token of the same. 
Unless, then, any Body, or religious society professing to 
belong to the Unity of the Truth, can show such a means 
of care and nourishment for those born unto Christ, I 
cannot admit its claim. Unless I find such a religious 
Body continually teaching the importance of that sacred 
channel of life — constantly affording the nourishment of its 
spiritual food — such a Body does not possess the Truth, in 
its constancy, and fails in a most important mark of the 
Church of Christ. If this be the case, I am prepared to 
say, further, that any Society holding the mere commemo- 
rative virtue of the Holy Communion, cannot claim unity 
with the Truth. No mistake can be more deeply danger- 
ous than this, I am persuaded ; no error strike a more fun- • 
damental blow. It matters not how much Baptism may be 
valued and insisted on, as the beginning of spiritual life, if 
the Holy Communion is lowered to a mere remembrance of 
Christ and outward sign of membership. In such a case 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 115 

there is no provision whatever for the new-born being ; 
there is no spiritual food, strength, or nourishment found ; 
there is an utter want of any visible, outward channel, to 
become the pledge and token of an inward grace, ministered 
day by day, according to the necessities of the soul, and 
by which the life begun in Baptism may be carried on. 
Such a system of religion is, therefore, entirely deficient in 
the Unity of Truth. It has no harmony with any of the 
other governments of God. It runs counter to every other 
provision of His mercy in the sustentation of life. 

However, it is not sufficient that I insist upon the point 
of Unity alone. I desire to appeal to the Divinity of 
Truth also, and see if the Word of God sustains the position 
I have reached, that the Holy Communion in its spiritual 
power, must be one mark of the Church of Christ. 

There is a very strong passage respecting this, in the 
Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. He writes : — 
*' Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the 
Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of 
the Lord."* Not a mere commemorative act, evidently ; 
not a simple sign and evidence of membership, surely! 
Rather, I should say, something exceedingly solemn and 
* important ; for, if it were only the memory of Christ to be 
preserved, what would be the difference betweenthe worthy 
and the unworthy p irtici|:)ation ? Would not the memory 
of Christ's suffering and death be as much presented to 

1 1 Cor. xix, 27, 



116 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

mind by an unworthy participant celebrating them, as by 
the worthy ? Would not the deatb of Christ be " showed 
forth" as fully in the celebration of the Holy Communion, 
(if that were all its purpose,) by one unprepared to come, as 
one prepared ? Most certainly ; and unless there were 
some deep, spiritual purpose in the receiving of tbe Holy 
Communion, beyond the simple recollection of Christ in 
the Church, how could the Apostle say, as in the next 
verse, " He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth 
and drinketh damnation unto himself :" then, adding, 
" For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you," 
in spiritual life ; " and many sleep," in sin. In considering, 
however, the guilt incurred by the profane celebration of 
the Holy Communion, I can more clearly make it out by 
referring to the language of the Redeemer Himself, con- 
cerning spiritual life. His declaration is, " Except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you. 
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hatb eter- 
nal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.'"'* This, 
we are distinctly told, had not any natural reference ; and 
I find our Lord explaining to the Jevv^s immediately after, 
— " It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth 
nothing." Then, if I look at the last solemn act of the •' 
Saviour's life, I may see more readily how this spiritual 
food was to be conveyed ; for at that time, instituting the 
Last Bupper Covenant, He said, as He brake the bread and 

* John, vi. 53, 54. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 117 

gave the wine, " This is my body, which is given for you. 
This do in remembrance of me." " Drink ye all of this ; 
for this is my blood of the New Covenant, for the remis- 
sion of sins. This do, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remem- 
brance of me."* Not that the bread and wine were His 
body and blood in the natural sense ; for He had before 
declared that by these terms He meant the Spirit, as the 
flesh profited nothing. Therefore, in these words I under- 
stand that by that bread and wine. He intended to convey 
spiritual meat and drink ; as He had said that His body 
was " meat indeed, and His flesh drink indeed." Viewing 
it thus, I gain a clear light upon the Apostle's meaning; 
and I cannot for a moment doubt that the guilt of an 
unworthy participation, as not discerning the Lord's body, 
lay in the violating and perverting a channel of spiritual 
food unto a sign of condemnation, by a dead, faithless 
heart. This also makes clear to me the full nature of the 
Holy Eucharist, instituted by the Redeemer Himself, as 
the second Sacrament of His Body. T see that it was given 
as a precious legacy of Christ, to His Church, for the spe- 
cial purpose of supporting the spiritual Hfe drawn from 
Himself, as the purchase of His Atonement and death. 
Thus, spiritually taken, the bread and wine becomes to the 
soul of man which has been born anew in Baptism, the 
means by which it receives the extraordinary helps of His 

grace, to continue its existence, to perfect its holiness, to 

♦' 

*Luke, xxii. 19, 30. "" 1> 



lis HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

increase its development and power. By that solemn act, 
through a devout faith, in deep repentance and ardent love, 
the soul feeds upon the Spirit of Christ as fully, nourish- 
ingly, really, as the body does upon tlie bread and wine. 
And, as that holy spirit was only obtained by the body and 
blood of Christ, sacrificed on the Cross — an inestimable 
purchase — therefore that bread becomes to us really the 
body of Christ, in its value ; the blood of Christ, tbat 
wine, in its worth. They represent these unto us — nothing 
less ; and if I draw near unfitly, if I come impenitently 
— pollutedly — I do not draw near only to bread and wine ; 
but am thus guilty of the body and blood of Christ ; for I 
offend against the Holy Ghost, by bringing it into a 
temple unholy and impure ; and such I am told " the Lord 
will destroy."* Therefore, I eat and drink damnation unto 
myself. 

But here arises in my heart a question of anxious eager- 
ness. How is all this done in the Holy Communion ? 
How is this commemoration of the death of Christ united 
with so solemn spiritual benefits ? This I must more 
closely examine ; and I therefore observe it to be a two- 
fold effect, as a sacrifice and 2i feast. 

1. It is an effectual Sacrament, inasmuch as it is a sacri- 
fice ; and this sacrifice itself, of a double nature, as real and 
as typical. 

It is a typical sacrifice, because in it we do " show forth 
the Lord's death until He come."| There never was but 

*1 Cpy.iii. 17. 1 1 Cor. xi. 26. ' 



I 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 119 

one true and availing sacrifice —even that v^^hich I have 
before considered, the Great Sacrifice of the death of 
Christ, at the middle point of the world's history— effec- 
tual to the remission of sin. Nevertheless, in both tha 
Church before and the Church since the coming of Christ, 
the benefits of that death w^ere drawn unto men, through 
appointed channels, as types of the same. Thus, in the 
first dispensation, animal sacrifice was appointed, as a type 
of the One Sacrifice of Christ. Not that the blood of 
bulls or of goats could take away sin ; but only as a type 
of the one perfect offering, in faith of God's promise, it be- 
came effectual in procuring the pardon of sin. Hence the 
slaughtered animal, its broken body, its poured out blood, 
was a sacrifice typical of the Holy one to come ; and 
through it alone obtained the promises built upon that 
Truth of God. The same is it with the retrotype of the 
Christian Church. It is a spiritual sacrifice, typical of the 
slaughtered Lamb, and looking back to Him. The broken 
bread, the poured-out wine, are a sacrifice typical of the 
broken body and shed blood of that Holy One through 
whom alone cometh the forgiveness of sins. These em- 
blems, therefore, show forth His death, not in a barren 
memory, neither by a simple recollection ; but really and 
truly as a representation of Christ, the body and blood 
are a typical sacrifice. 

So likewise is this Sacrament a real sacrifice ; that is 



120 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

to say, in the same sense as were the animal sacrifices of 
the Jew, real. They were real sacrifices, from the fact 
that the animal slain was truly and entirely offered and 
devoted to the glory of God. The hfe of the victim w^as 
consecrated to the offended majesty of the Almighty, and 
it was, therefore, presented as the confession that such 
death was the proper punishment of sin. In the same 
manner, at the Holy Eucharist, the emblems of Bread and 
Wine are consecrated unto God, and with them, the Life, 
Body, and Soul, of the worshipper, are offered up to the 
Most High. In that oblation, the Christian worshipper 
offers and presents himself, soul and body, to be a reason- 
able, holy, and living sacrifice unto God, declaring that 
all he is, and all he has, he there, through Christ, does 
really sacrifice unto God. 

2d. It IS also a feast. Not only am I to view this 
Sacrament as a sacrifice, typical and true, thus preserv- 
ing the unity of the Truth, for the conveyance of spiritual 
life ; but I must see it as a feast — a feast to the soul. This 
is the light in which I first examined it, as being the source 
of spiritual existence. Through its sacrificial character at 
every celebration, remission of sin is obtained, and par- 
don and cleansing is secured; but through its festive char- 
acter alone does it promise help and strength to the soul. 
Therefore is it a feast. By it, the life begun in Baptism, 
is matured. The infancy of spiritual life is developed and 
perfected. Constantly, as by besetting sin and original in- 



I 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 121 

firmitv, that life becomes decayed, is the spiritual source 
renewed and increased. The image of Christ becomes 
more perfectly stamped in the soul.. It grows in grace. 
It increases in knowledge. It perfects in love. It ad- 
vances in holiness. It progresses in life. The soul par- 
taking constantly of the Holy Spirit through that blessed 
feast upon a sacrifice, receives more and more the indwel- 
ling of the Godhead. With every participation, its hidden 
life of Christ * is confirmed. By the forgiveness of its 
sin, and restoration to the justification of Baptismal purity, 
a spring of new life is again and again imparted, and thus, 
by that very growth, hunger and thirst are roused, and the 
more it partakes of that holy food, the more keen becomes 
its relish and desire for its participation. It hungers and 
thirsts after a righteousness not its own, but given in that 
blessed sacrifice. Therefore, it longs to wait thus upon 
the Lord for a renewal of its strength ; and, by Faith, by 
Love, by Divine rapture in the Holy Communion, it ex- 
ults in that Heavenly banquet, and rejoices in that more 
than Angels' food. Thus fed again and again in that Holy 
Sacrament, nourished in that real, typical sacrifice, it goes 
from strength to strength, in spiritual life, until to the God 
of Gods appeareth that life-filled soul in Zion. 

Now, indeed, I see how solemnly necessary is this sacra- 
ment to the test of the Church. Can she be true if she 
stint and starve her children, even after she has given 

* Coh iii. 3. 



122 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

them birth through Holy Baptism ? Can it be anj^thing 
but a mockery of the wants of the soul, when she brings 
her children to the table of her spouse, and tells them — not 
to feed in soul, not to fill their hungering spirits with the 
precious food of Heavenly Grace ; but only to picture the 
dying of their Lord, and remember that they are breth- 
ren ? Oh ! does this nourish the inner life ? Is this the 
unity and harmony of all God's actions ? Is it thus, that 
He carries on life in any other operation ? No — truly no ! 
If the Church be indeed the spouse of Christ, she must 
feed His children with that Heavenly food which her 
spouse died to obtain. He died for His own. He poured 
out His blood only, in order that those He loved, the 
children of His bride, should be nourished up unto ever- 
lasting life ; and, oh ! I am sure that if she be true to Him, 
she will not starve them with the mere picture of what He 
has suffered, the mere resemblance of His death ; but she 
will gather them, with bitter tears of repentance, with sobs 
of heart-broken love, around that Saviour's board ; and 
while she tells them how He died, who loved them unto 
the end, and bids them remember the exceeding great love 
of their Master and only Saviour Christ, in thus dying 
for them, she will give them all the treasures of that 
sacred gift, and bestow upon them the blessed Body 
and Blood of Christ — bid them be filled with the Holy 
Ghost — declare to them His precious promises— tell them 
how, then and there, they may feed upon Him, and that to 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 123 

their souls His flesh is meat indeed — His blood is drink 
indeed. 

This is the Body of Christ, which I seek. Such must 
she be in whom I hope to be brought near to my God. 
The true spouse — the faithful mother — the guide of my 
soul unto Christ. He the Head, and through her, all in 
all, to my soul — Jesus the beloved — " the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life !" 



SOLILOQUY VIII 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

How often have I repeated the words of the Apostles 
Creed in the House of God — " The Holy Catholic Church, 
the Communion of Saints !" Have I fully understood it ? I 
fear not. So very much has opened upon my mind, during 
these last few evenings of heart-com.muning, that it seems 
as though I never before realized the meaning of the 
words. I believe I now perceive what an intensity of 
signification there is in the first part of the article. I 
think I do really understand the sacredness of that Body 
of Christ, called His Church. I have settled to my satis- 
faction the notes or marks of that Church, according to the 
Truth of God. I have found them in the Divinity, Unity, 
and Constancy of the Word, the Ministry, the Sacra- 
ments. Each of these I have tested and considered, until 
I see distinctly what must be the Constitution of her who 
is the spouse of Christ. Will it not be well for me, as a 
concluding consideration, to ponder upon the whole thus 
offered as a Communion of Saints, and see what is con- 
tained in that Truth ? I believe it will 



126 HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 

" The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints." 
This is one and the same article. Not two distinct and 
separate thoughts, but simply one. The Communion of 
Saints, as given in the Catholic Church, and the Catholic 
Church as proved in the Communion of Saints. Yet, 
v^hat is the meaning of that term, Communion of Saints ? 
I must review the other point. The Church of Christ is 
the Truth of (^od, and the one vast system of the for- 
giveness of sins, through the atonement of Christ, sealed 
and conveyed in the two sacraments, administered by a 
duly authorized Priesthood — this is termed the Universal, or 
Catholic Church, and is made up of the various and 
numerous local divisions or portions, as the Greek, Roman, 
Anglican, American branches of the same body. It is not, 
then, in any one of those bodies itself that I can predicate 
the fact of the Communion of Saints. It is not in that they 
are Roman or Greek, Papal or Episcopal, that I can make 
the assertion, that in them is the Communion of Saints. 
This Communion arises simply from their being Members 
of the Body of Christ, united to that Holy Body, which 
must be undivided Truth throughout the world. I cannot 
then claim the Communion of Saints, because I am a 
Papist, or because I am an Episcopalian, or because I am 
an Anglican, or a Greek member. The only defensible 
claim must be, that I am a member of the Body of Christ, 
and, therefore, in unity with that Universal Body. Hence 
it is the great and glorious privilege of the Church of 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 127 

Christ to give this Communion of Saints, not because we 
unite with this or that portion, or branch of the Church, 
as if it alone contained that Communion ; but because we 
receive rigbtly — partake truly — of those Holy Sacraments, 
by which we obtain the atonement of Jesus, and in which 
the precious blessings of His sacrifice and deatb are seal- 
ed and conveyed unto mankind. Such sacraments initiate 
us into the Holy Fellowship of the sacred company of 
the elect of God. 

I see this clearly in the language of the Apostle, con- 
cerning the Eucharist. " The cup of blessing which we 
bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ ; the 
bread which we break, is it not the Communion of thfe 
Body of Christ, for we being many are one bread and one 
body, being partakers of that one bread." * By these 
words, I conceive, the Apostle intends to set forward the 
fact, that, by partaking of the consecrated bread and 
wine, and so by Faith, being recipients of the Spirit of 
Christ, they were one with Him, and also one, each with 
the other, through Him. In this lay their Communion. Not 
in the fact that they were members of the same portion of 
the Church at Corinth. They were partakers of the same 
Grace of Christ — nourished by the same spiritual food — 
inheritors of like spiritual blessings, and drawing the same 
life, from the same source of life. This was their Com- 
munion. Then, again, if I examine the first part of a 

* 1 Cor. X. 17. 



128 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

succeeding chapter, I see with equal distinctness, that the 
other Sacrament of Baptism is made a source of unity and 
connection between the members of the Body of Christ, 
for the Apostle writes — " By one spirit, we are all Baptized 
unto one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile — whether 
we be bond or free ; and have all been made to drink into 
one spirit." * By which words, I have placed before me 
the truth of the Communion of Saints — their oneness and 
completeness in the Faith of Christ, as sealed through the 
Baptismal Covenant. Their Baptism is presented, there- 
fore, as a ground of unity, by which, also, they receive the 
Communion of Saints. Saints — not indeed by a sinless 
perfection ; but Saints, according to their calling of God f 
— according to their purpose in the Church — according to 
the longing and desire of their hearts. 

It is very necessary that this should be impressed upon 
my mind, because no idea is more common (nor more 
erroneous) than that, which would make the Communion of 
Saints to be derived from the secular relations of that re- 
ligious body to which individuals may chance to belong. 
So I have often heard of this or that " religious Commun- 
ion" — or such an one " not being of our own Communion" 
— or this or that " Communion being broken up." Accord- 
ing to such a view, the Communion of Saints would be 
the union which they have, one with another, through a 
profession of like views and similar religious impressions. 

* Cor. xii. 13. t Peter, i. 2 ; 2 Tim. i. 9. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 129 

Not such the true union of Saints. This union is their 
participation in the one Body of Christ, and deriving the 
same life. It will not be difficult to find an illustration. 
The union is precisely the same as in the earthly family, 
where the relationship is not founded upon any individual 
resemblance, or similarity. The relation and consequent 
union of brother or sister, does not depend upon personal 
likeness. They are not brother or sister, because they 
have the same tastes and feelings — or because they resem- 
ble each other. They may not do so in the least. Their 
views and opinions may be exceedingly different ; and yet 
they are one in the home, because they have a common 
source of existence. Their parents are one — their homes 
one — their support and nourishment, until maturity — is 
one. Thus it is in the Communion of Saints ; its integri- 
ty has no reference to a sectional portion of the Body of 
Christ, nor to the views and feelings of those composing 
that body ; it is the common birth into Christ that begins 
it — the true participation of the Holy Communion which 
continues it — and thus the Sacraments are the source, as 
the Church is the ground, of that Communion. 

And what are the results of that one life — that vast, 
united, and yet multiplied, spiritual existence, flowing unto 
all the innumerable members of Christ's Body ? What 
are the blessings of that Communion of Saints ? 

The blessings resulting from a unity in Faith, in Hope, 
in Love. A union in Faith, for one and all believe that 



130 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

through the sacrifice and precious death of Christ alone, 
is life and immortaUty brought to light by the Gospel. All 
believe, that only through Christ the crucified, are their 
sins forgiven, their pardon sealed ; and that they are Bap- 
tized only through His Blood, unto the remission of sins. 
All believe, that only in Him, and by Him, comes salva- 
tion to any soul that shall be saved. Into this one Faith, 
all throughout that vast company, are baptized, and with 
one mouth they profess to believe. 

It is also a union of Hope. From the one Head (hold- 
ing fast His spirit) they all draw their common life by the 
joints and bands of Holy Sacraments, through a Divine 
Ministry ; and therefore, they must as such, expect a com- 
mon joy, in one united Eternal Home. Ransomed 
together by Jesus' blood, and living in soul by the opera- 
tion of His spirit, they look for a common hope of Eternal 
glory ; they expect the same precious reward, the same 
gracious fellowship of the mercy of God, even Eternal 
Life to as many as believe in Him. 

So also is it a unity of Love. Being partakers of the 
same spiritual existence, and filled with the same Divine 
mind — it accords and agrees with the same image in 
another mind ; and whether " one member suffers, all the 
members suflTer with it ; or whether one member rejoices, 
all the members rejoice with it." * Subject to like temp- 
tations, trials, and cares, their sympathies and affections go 

* 1 Cor. xii. 26. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS, 131 

out toward each other in an Holy Love ; not, indeed, be- 
cause of altogether similar views; neither because of pe- 
culiar, individual, or personal agreement — not because 
there is any social connection between them ; but from the 
one great ground, a common Father — source of Life--and 
they Brethren in Him. They may differ in taste — may 
vary in feeling — may have little similarity in views ; but 
in that Holy Love they are one. Partakers of the same 
blessed Sacraments, and so born unto, and nourished by 
that one Head, even Christ, they will be drawn each to- 
ward the other in a powerfully impelling source of union. 
All looking unto the same Baptism as the beginning of 
their spirit life, and prizing it as the precious Covenant of 
their new promise ; all drawing near to the same Holy 
table, (spread throughout the world by the same love,) and 
feeding upon Christ, and . partakers of His Body and 
Blood— they are one indeed, united in a blessed Commun- 
ion — wherever they may be — however they are situated — • 
for " they being many, are one body, being partakers of that 
one bread/' * and they dwell in Christ, and He in them. 

Here, however, an objection arises in my mind. An 
objection which may be made, and often is made, to 
the whole outline of the Church, which I have so far 
considered. It is an objection which often is triumph- 
antly proposed as an effectual hindrance to the believer 
of the Church's claims. It is this. If the view thus 

* 1 Cor. X. 17. 



132 HEART AND HOME TKUTHS. 

taken, be correct, and if the Church of Christ, possess- 
ing a lawfully ordained ministry, and being Divinely 
constituted with two sacraments for the conveyance of 
spiritual life— if this Church is the only appointed means 
of salvation, and there is no real spiritual life out of this 
system — what shall become of the numerous religious 
bodies, not possessing such a constitution, and not belong- 
ing to this Communion of Saints ? There are, certainly, 
belonging to them, many good and pious persons ; are they 
lost ? Do they really have no spiritual life ? Does their 
error shut them out from any participation in soul-exist- 
ence ? This is a very solemn question, and this objec- 
tion very often leads many to reject the teaching of God's 
Word, concerning the Church, as the appointed means of 
salvation. Shall I be compelled to do so ? No. I am to 
follow Truth wherever it leads. Is this any concern of 
mine? If I am satisfied of what is the Truth of God's 
will, does it concern me to settle any other difficulties ? 
It would appear not. Therefore, even if compelled to 
make this issue, I believe I have no right to reject the 
Truth for its consequences. However, is it not possible 
to see any way by which such an issue can be avoided ? 
I must, most attentively, consider this. 

Now, although I have learned to look upon the Church 
of Christ, that is, the Holy company of faithful people, 
bound together in the two Sacraments, and administered by 
a Divinely appointed Priesthood, as the one true means of 



HEART AND HOME TKtJTHS. 133 

spiritual life for man, and so of salvation; although I have 
come to see that the life of the soul is carried on by the 
Spirit of Christ, through the Body of which He is the 
Head, in a regular harmonious system — exactly in the 
same manner as bodily life in the natural world ; and thus 
that the figure used by the Saviour is true, and that unless 
we are branches of the Vine, according to His law we 
cannot have true spiritual life ; — although I have reached 
all this, yet let me pause here, for I cannot but believe that 
there are good and holy persons, who are not members of 
that one true Church ; and out of those appointed 
Sacraments who do have spiritual existence. And yet 
how ? 

This I must answer by another question. Have I any 
doubt at all concerning the irrevocable law and order of 
God, in the conveyance of natural life ? Scarcely. If I 
look at the tree, growing in the field, I will not hesitate to 
say, that it must conform to the fixed law of God, to ob- 
tain life. It must possess at once, root, stem, branches, 
leaves, and ministering sap ; without these, it cannot live. 
Pluck up its root, and it dies. Cut off the branches from 
the trunk, and they perish. I speak very positively and 
decidedly, for I am very sure. This is . the GoD-ordained 
system of the natural life. And yet what is my experi- 
ence ? How often has it happened to me that in the 
sweet, budding spring-time, I have gone forth and plucked 
from the garden's treasures, some tender branch, teeming 

6 



134 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

with numerous, and more than common, promises of 
flower ? Its delicate beauty attracted me, and its profuse 
display of scarce developed buds, led me, carelessly, and yet 
perhaps intentionally, to sever it from its stalk. I broke it 
from its parent stem, and thus severed the connection 
w^ith its true. Goo-ordained system of life, and — it died, 
did it not ? No — perhaps not. I carried it, perhaps, to 
my home — I valued its beauty, and longed to see those 
delicate leaves unfold, and learn their hue and shade. I 
carefully guarded it. I placed it in a warm and genial spot ; 
I afforded a copious supply of water to the broken stem, and 
offered it the cherishing rays of the smiling sun, and then 
— I saw it live. I watched it day by day unfold — the bud 
became a blossom — the flower expanded and opened forth 
into a fragile beauty. Now, what should I call this, which 
I have so often seen ? It is life — is it not ? Yes — but 
what kind of life ? Is it regular — just — true — healthful — 
life, according to God's creative law ? No ! It is irregu- 
lar — it is uncertain. As I placed that branch into the fos- 
tering water, I said to myself, perhaps " It may live, and it 
may not." Its life is a struggle against ordinary laws. It 
lives under a difficulty or pressure, surrounded by uncer- 
tainty and doubt. So long as it remained attached to the 
parent stem, there was no doubt. If it were externally 
uninjured, it must, certainly, bud and blossom. It is the 
same with the Sacred Vine of which Christ is the Life. 
That is the only true and ordained channel of spiritual 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 135 

life; and yet there may be life spiritual, in those who are 
cut off from that unity, the true body and the true sacra- 
ments. They may live unto God ; but it is not according 
to His appointed system. It is irregular — it is precarious 
— it is difficult. There is not in it the health, the vigor, 
nor strength, of the true and ordained means. It is a 
forced life, requiring all the hot-bed stimulus of excited feel- 
ings — frenzied raptures— paroxysms of emotions — convul- 
sions of frame, and enthusiasms of passions. Therefore, 
it is a feeble, troubled, uncertain life—filled with tempta- 
tions and snares, such as only a schism from the Body of 
Christ can present. 

I do not, then, feel compelled to tbe issue before contem- 
plated. I see how, by a figure, we may understand the 
possibility of life being continued and contained, out of the 
ordained organic law, and yet that possibility not doing 
away with the fearful precariousness of any such posi- 
tion. 

This thought, then, may justly conclude these, my medi- 
tations ; and, with the Communion of Saints, as the 
blessed fullnes« of the Body of Christ opened before me, I 
may rest my heart. Now all my path. Is clear as a deep 
soul-union with God — in the life of Truth. Now, at last, I 
behold light, and that Divine, United, and Constant, as the 
light of the Holy Word. Now spiritual life stands before 
me, an awful, sacred reality ; not a separate — individual — 



136 HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 

personal excitement of feeling, in so-called religion ; but 
as a Holy, glorious union with Christ, in the Communion 
of Saints. Blessed are they who have discovered this 
wisdom of God, called foolishness of men ! How purely 
they may live — how calmly, sweetly die ! How uncon- 
taminate with the world may they be — how free from 
its debasing cares may they exist ! Living in their 
spiritual world ; wrapped up, not in self, sense, or gain, 
but in the Love and service of God ; the earth inter- 
meddleth not with their joy. And when the world has 
drawn the curtain over her gorgeous phantoms, and 
closed up for the dark night of the tomb all the fantastic 
pictures of her short life's-day; then calm and bright 
will shine the glory of that Eternal Life — the sweet 
comfort of the Church of Christ — living^speaking be- 
yond the tomb ; and then the promise shall soothe even 
the dying heart — ■" I will raise them up at the last day." 
Yes ! and even after death — when the sleeping form is softly 
laid in its parent earth — then still shall the voice of her 
love come to comfort the soul, with her sweet- whispered 
words of consolation and joy — " Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord" — and light, life, and immortality cast 
their glow o'er the grave. 

Shine on, then, ye stars ! Quiver and shoot, ye glitter- 
ing Heavens ! Tell out His works with gladness ; but 
never shall ye lell a thousandth part of the Truth of 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 137 

God, whereby Righteousness and Peace have kissed each 
other ; and, oh ! my heart, brought by that Truth so 
near to God; in unutterable adoration, take thee words 
and cry — 

" For Thou only art Holy— Thou only art the Lord— 
Thou only, O Cueist, with the Holy Ghost, art most 
high in the glory of God the Father. Amen," 



II. 



HOME TRUTHS. 






" Sacramentum Paschoe in Exodi lege nihil aliud continet quam ut agnus qui 
in figura Christi occiditur indomo una edatur. Nee alia ulla credentibus praeter 
unam Ecclesiam domus." 

S. Cyprian de Unit. Ecclcs., p. 110 et 182. 



HEART AID HOME TRUTHS 



SOLILOQUY I, 



HOME. 

My Home ! How sweetly does that word sound ! I 
love to speak it out in its round fullness thus, and call it — 
Home! How innumerable are the tender associations 
which the word calls up ; and how lingering is the regret 
which shadows its loss ! "There is no place like Home," 
says the truest as well as the sweetest of all sweet ballads, 
and was there ever a man who possessed a Home, unwil- 
ling to make the assertion his own ? 

I feel it to be so to-night ; and as I sit within the com- 
pass of these walls, which enclose all now forming my 
Home, it is no insignificant part of the pleasing calm 
brooding over my spirit, to think that I am at Home, and 
so at rest. 

But what is Home ? Four walls ? A plot of ground ? 
Furniture ? A family ? Friends ? Sleeping and eating ? 

6* 



142 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

My mind turns away from each of these in their separa- 
tion — some with contempt, and some with hesitation ; yet 
still from all with denial. It is not every man who has a 
family, or a house — furniture, or friends — who has a 
Home ; if he have them alone. Home presents to my 
mind a much deeper signification. It is a pecuHar and 
incommunicable glory, dwelling in, and hovering around 
that spot, which is simply the retreat of loving and united 
hearts, from a cold and heartless world. 

Home, therefore, implies to my mind necessarily — heart. 
Indeed, the Home is, in relation to the world, what the 
heart is to the body. The deepest and most sacred, hid- 
den portion of its being. The purifying, as well as sus- 
taining influence of all the corporate intricacies. It is the 
Home which must purify the whole current of life rush- 
^ ing to and fro, through the unwieldy bulk of society, even 
as the heart must, by its action, pour forth and receive, 
the alternately pure and impure currents of the blood in 
the body of man. But even were the figure worthless, I 
know the fact remains. A heartless man, according to 
the usual meaning of that term, knows not Home. The 
sweet influences, the hallowed associations, the tender 
ties which glorify the Home, have no power over him. 
He will scorn a Home, because there is in him nothing 
answering to its voice. He will slight its influence and 
despise its claim. 

Therefore it is, that the more debased the mind and 



HEART AND UOME TRUTHS. 143 

heart, the less perception is there of the sweetness of 
Home. The more degraded a society of men, and the 
more lacking in either purity or intelligence, the less value 
is placed among them upon the severance and sanctity of 
the Home. They are lacking in what we call heart; and 
where the affections are either dead or polluted, there the 
lines and boundaries of the Home are prostrated. 

Now, is this all ? Is Home a conventionality ? Does it 
simply depend upon a state of society — or is it something 
higher and above, as a will of the Creator ? An institution 
— does it show itself — given by our God ? 

Alas ! alas ! it has become a conventionality ! In the 
thousands, and ten thousands of Homes, upon which I 
might look this night, with how few would I find Home 
to be anything more than the constitution of society, more 
or less refined, as the affections are more or less purified ? 
Looking through never so many shades of feeling and 
affections for Home — where would I find any coming up 
to that hallowed height — Home, as the gift of God ? 
How many should I see, by their deep attachment to it, 
and their solemn guidance of it, recognizing the Home to 
be a Divine Institution — God's type in imperfect Earth of 
the coming glory of that Home, which is perfect Heaven ! 

^ The thought is painful to me. Very. I stop in my 
meditation. A weight comes upon my spirit. Is there 
nothing real in merely human happiness, apart from a 
Heavenly principle ? I would answer the question ; but 



144 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

my eye catches the gleaming of the moon on the white, 
steady, glistening tombstones, studding yonder burying- 
ground, and — the question is answered. That ends all ! 
Put it at the best ; wreathe round your Home, my heart, 
the ruddiest visions of purified Love that you can invoke ; 
make it sweet — call it real — and yet, how long before that 
Home shall end — there ? 

Now the voices of my little children come up to my ear 
as they sport with their merry games in the room below. 
A choking sensation rises in my throat, and my heart ap- 
pears as though lead in my breast. I lean my hot cheek 
against the cool window-panes, and gaze outward upon the 
scene spread before me in the mellow moonhght. It is 
cold to-night, and very brightly fall those rays upon the 
grave-yard tombstones. Why is it that I can see nothing 
else ? Why is it, that as the merry shouts of laughter 
come up to my ears, and those sweet childish voices ring 
so clear upon my hearing, I still can only see the dark 
sombre foliage waving in heavy clusters over the white- 
topped graves ? All ends there, I say to myself, half 
audibly : — The dearest Love — the fondest Home — the 
happiest childhood — the most united family circle — must 
come to that close. There is nothing real in human hap- 
piness, apart from a Divine principle. It must be either 
nothing, or all. What reality is there in a Home, however 
happy, which is only a Home for earth, enduring for a 
time ? As I look to-night on those silent graves — as I 



HEAET AND HOME TKUTHS. 145 

watch the long swinging locust limbs, cold and damp, per- 
forming the office of mourners, in the pale moonlight — 
can I forget that they, who lie beneath, once had Homes, 
as dear to them as mine is now to me ? No. I well 
know that they, in their, day, hstened, with, perhaps, gush- 
ing fondness, to such childish voices as now greet my ears. 
They gathered their Homes around them — they exulted in 
their peace ; but where is it now ? Ah ! tremendous ques- 
tion — where ? This moon, which shone then so quietly 
on their joy, now shines as calmly on their grave, and 
their Love, and their Home- — where ? 

I feel a thrill creep through my frame, at the thought 
which that suggests. Have they a Home now ? Is there 
more than one Home ? More than one ? Yes^my 
Home now is not what was my Home once. That I well 
know. There was my first Home, which was my child- 
hood's Home. This is now my second Home — the Home 
of my children's childhood — and, oh ! what is that flash- 
ing thought — yes — I see it — there must be a third, a last 
Home, and that Home— where ? 

Oh ! can it be that this is so, and that the Home is the 
Institution of our God, (in resemblance of His nature,) 
threefold in its progress and its power ? May I really be- 
hold, the first and second Home, as only early stages, pre- 
paratory for, and typical of, the last Eternal Home, the 
presence of our God ? 

If this be true, indeed (and I begin to feel that it is true). 



146 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

with what a fearful interest is the Home invested ! How 
far does it stand beyond a mere conventional decree ! 
What a solemn light shines upon the beauties of its rest .' 
Truly now I may say, the hallowing associations of a 
Home ; and as I behold this light, my heart yearns within 
me, to cry aloud to all — " Be warned ! Trifle not with 
your Homes. You have only two, indeed, for time ; but 
they are the types of one, which is to be the Home for 
Eternity !" Yes — and if I could Hft my voice, so as to 
penetrate to every Home this night, I would say — "Oh! 
parents, hear ! A fearful responsibility rests upon you. 
As the Home you have had, sets its stamp upon the Home 
you have now, so will this set its stamp upon that which is 
to come. ' This is not your i-est.' * The only true Home 
lies in the Future, God gives the earthly to secure a bet- 
ter Heavenly reality. Strive, then, that the Present may 
indicate the Future in its Glory and Truth." 

There can be, then, no reality of character in any Home 
falling short of such Divine standard. The Truth and the 
worth of any Home, must be found in its approximation to 
the character of that which is the Eternal one. Hence, 
Religious Life and Rehgious Truth are inseparable from 
its Constitution, and must be both generally and intimate- 
ly connected with its existence. To be a true Home, 
capable of setting its stamp for the Eternal, it must be a 
Religious Home. It must not only be of God ; but for 

* Micah. ji. 10. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 147 

God ; and the religious life of its members must consti- 
tute the religious atmosphere of its unity. Heart-Truth 
must be the only foundation of its Home-Truth. 

Here I see the error of very many. It is too common 
a thing to find those who profess to receive the Truth as 
it is in Jesus, restricting their religious profession to the 
narrow field of their personal action — their bosom feelings 
and emotions. They never travel out of the narrow circle 
of their individual experiences, habits, or hopes. Their 
religion is essentially, (I can call it nothing else) a selfish 
religion. They do not feel bound to extend their knowl- 
edge of the Truth to their Homes. They do not attempt to 
stamp the characteristics of their profession upon its sur- 
face. They are content to be brought near to God, as a 
personal relation, and in His Hol}^ Church, through blessed 
Sacraments, they seem to be assiduous in cultivating the 
Truth of their own Christian character; but for their 
Home, that same Truth is neglected. It may, indeed, 
affect their character in their Home. I have no doubt it 
does. It must. Nevertheless, that is not the point in 
question. That his knowledge of Heart-Truth does 
make a man more gentle, patient, upright, and consistent 
in his Home, is a blessing indeed; and when this is a 
change from a naturally fretful, hasty, impatient, tyranniz- 
ing temper, it is assuredly a blessed change. But even 
this is not enough. This does not give any character to 
the Home, as marking it for God, and as being the household 



148 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

of the Christian. This does not fix upon it any Truth 
which shall exist beyond the grave. We know that many 
careless and worldly persons, possess, naturally, kind, 
patient, amiable tempers, and, then, where the difference 
between the Homes ? Home-Truth is more than this ; it 
is that which must possess a likeness to the Heavenly 
Home, and, therefore, must be the character of Heavenly 
Truth. 

Such, and such only, I take to be a Home, in the fullness 
of that large term. It is that closer circle of heart-love 
(embracing Heart- Truth) which possesses the marked cha- 
racter of religious faith ; and, by being wholly constituted in 
accordance with the Divine Will, becomes, by anticipation, 
a preparation for that one true Home, dawning in the light 
of the Sun of Righteousness, beyond the grave. 

How blessed, how happy is the Home possessing such 
characteristics ! To it, the grave is no destroyer, neither 
is death a foe ; for, in the eternity of God, it will reach its 
perfect state, and find all its sweetness and its delights re- 
newed, to their fullest and most complete degree. The 
love, the peace, th^ trust, the joy, which in it purified all 
that became cankered by contact with corrupted society, 
will be the unvaried constitution of its final development ; 
and the grave prove only the gate to a larger garden of 
fuller delight. 

Do I know any such ? Alas ! can I, with truth, answer 
to myself, yes ? If I do, they are few and far- scattered. 



HEAET AND HOME TKUTHS. 149 

And yet, why? Is Heart-Truth so little known? No ; — 
but such Truth rarely touches the Home. 

I must ponder this more closely. It is a solemn duty. 
If it were not so to my own heart and conscience, it is, I 
feel, to others beneath my care. Those innocent voices 
ringing in my ears, draw too strongly upon the strings of 
my heart, to let me forget that my second Home is their 
first ; and, by the stamp which I place upon it, will be y 
guided their progress to the second ; and so fixed, perhaps 
finally, for them and for me — the third, last, Eternal Home ! 



I 



SOLILOQUY II 



DISTINCTIVE FEATURES. 

I NOW wish to examine faithfully into the nature and 
character of a true Home. I wish to see my own duty, and 
place before my mind the method by which the first and 
second Homes may be so resembled to the last Home, as to 
prepare for its coming. I desire to find in what manner 
Heart-Truth will secure to itself Home-Truth. 

I before came to the conclusion, that the grand mis- 
take commonly made, is the segregative character of reli- 
gious profession carried on by so many. If the earthly 
Home is given by God, only as a type of the heavenly ; and 
if the natural family is only an emblem of tlie spiritual 
family, of which He is the Head ; then, assuredly, the one 
should be patterned after the other ; and the love and 
peace which we hope to continue beyond the tomb, must 
be founded upon the same basis in the temporal, as we 
know it is founded in the eternal. A true Home, there- 
fore, is a religious Home. Not a religious Home in name. 
How many of these have I not seen ? But a religious 
home in deed. A home patterned after God's household, 



152 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

the Church ; and so a Christian household — governed, 
guided, and fashioned in accordance to the Will of God. 

Now, any household, to be a Christian one, must possess 
a positive and distinct character as such : that is to say, it 
must be evidently the household of a Christian — as Chris- 
tianly, ruled ; as Christianly, conducted ; and carried on 
with a Christian aim. It must, therefore, be as different 
from a worldly household, as — a strong figure, it is true — 
heaven is from hell. Not in degree, of course ; but in 
purpose and position. 

I think this is an unavoidable necessity, arising from the 
supposed reality of a man's profession. When an indivi- 
dual, the head of any household, assumes the vows of the 
Baptismal Covenant, and, ratifying them in Confirmation, 
proceeds to Holy Communion, he or she is supposed to 
mean what they say, and feel what they profess ; and 
when they declare that they renounce the Devil and all his 
works, the pomps and vanities of the wicked world, the 
evil lusts of the flesh, and that they will endeavor not to 
follow nor be led by them, — it is beheved that they are in 
earnest in their declaration. Further : when they assert, 
in the celebration of the Holy Communion, that they ofler 
and present themselves, their souls and bodies, to be a 
living sacrifice to God, I understand them to mean, that all 
they have, and that all they can do, they will really conse- 
crate unto God, as wholly and entirely His.* Conse- 

* Rom. xi. 1. 



1 



HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 153 

quentlV) to carry out this declaration, their household and 
their homes must come under a new system. The house- 
hold must be dedicated to Gob ; and a holy purpose must 
be stamped upon all its duties and affections. What they 
before did upon a worldly principle, they are now to do 
upon a Divine one. The habits and customs before 
encouraged to assimilate with the world, they must now 
seek to assimilate unto heaven. The purpose which they 
before entertained, as diversely following up present 
gratification, they must now merge into a concentrated 
effort toward meeting the demands of their God. 

I can see no other course than this for the attainance of 
any Truth in the Home. If a Christian profession is any- 
thing, it is all. It must, to the head of a family, strike first 
in its operation at the modelling of the household. If it is 
not anything, it were better never to be made. So I say, 
as I often have said before, to myself and others, if there 
is to be any Truth in the Home of the Christian, and if 
it is at all to resemble that which he hopes to possess 
in the eternal Home, it must possess features as markedly 
distinctive in their character as is his promise peculiar. 

Now, these distinguishing characteristics of the Chris- 
tian household are to be found, I think, chiefly in two 
points, by which it differs from the worldly household. It 
is perfectly clear to my mind, that, if in any family the 
purpose and method of living were different from that of 
the great majority, I could not fail to observe it. How 
quickly even small peculiarities of family traits strike my 



154 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

eye ! Even trifling points of temper and disposition, as 
extending tiirough a family, become very noticeable. Of 
course, then, if the great purpose for w^hich they live, and 
the w^hole method in v\^hich they live, v^ere different in one 
family from most others, it would be as evident to me as 
the light of day — as perceptible as the path before me. 
From this I conclude that a Christian household should be 
distinguishable from any other in the purpose and method 
of its existence. 

The purpose of the Christian household, is indicated by 
the purpose of its head to serve the Lord.* This duty is 
made the first great object of the Home. It must w^eigh 
constantly upon the mind of the Christian ruler of that 
Home. He can never lose sight of it. Tov^^ard this pur- 
pose, he seeks continually to bend the minds of all in that 
sphere. Religious and spiritual duties are held up as ob- 
jects superior to all others ; and the first place is always 
given to that which concerns the glory of God or the wel- 
fare of the soul. The head of such a family never fails to 
bear in mind that all the ordinary duties and occupations 
of the Home may be sanctified and made instruments by 
which the heart and mind may be spiritually elevated. 
Hence the constant aim is made the fulfiling of the will 
of God, and the unceasing purpose, is the effort toward the 
obedience of His commands. 

Now the ordinary purpose of a household, it is quite 

* Josh. xxiv. 15. 



HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 155 

plain to see, declares itself in the endeavor after comfort, 
ease, or self-gratification ; and as ministering to this, ap- 
pearances are consulted, and accumulations made. All 
duties are accommodated to this object. The Home is 
cut and carved, according to the interests of temporal con- 
cerns, guided in its arrangements entirely by the rule of 
business and convenience. Everything is swayed, in the 
worldly household, by the appearances to be kept up ; or 
moulded in accordance with, their efforts for accumulation. 
Therefore, evidently, its purpose is to run along with the 
rest of the world as smoothly as possible, and to avoid, as 
far as can be avoided, differences from others. 

Exactly opposite to this, is the formation of the true 
Home. All its plans, and each of its arrangements, will be 
found to have some reference to a holy object ; and a re- 
ligious duty, and spiritual responsibility, is clearly felt by 
all. Its ordering is fixed by the necessities of religious 
life. No rule or habit of the Home is allowed to be so 
settled, but what, if the glory of God, or the benefit of 
the soul, or the good of the Church require, it can be 
changed or modified. So that in looking at the working 
of this household, even casually, I can see at once that it 
differs from an ordinary Home. The will of God is ex- 
hibited to my sight, as the ruling power in it, and religious 
duties or pleasure, the one, supreme, absorbing interest 
within its spheres. I say to myself at once, seeing such, 
in that household both the business and the pleasure are 



156 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

derived from the service of God. And this, too, heartily^ 
as must be in a true Home, which is the abode of the 
heart. It springs necessarily from the sincerity of their 
rehgious profession who are at its head, and who realize 
that it is their solemn duty and privilege to lead all under 
their care to the obedience and recollection of God, in 
order that they and their house may serve the Lord. 

And, furthermore, I am satisfied that this purpose will 
be so clearly manifested as to prevent any misconstruc- 
tion on the part of others. It will not be anything con- 
fined to the boundary of that Home ; but it will carry its 
object, unwaveringly, before the world. It will not be 
ashamed of its purpose. I think I have seen such in- 
stances of infirmity in distinctive features. Households 
where a religious purpose was limited to their interior 
economy, and not suffered to appear in their external re- 
lations, because likely then to appear strange. This 
strange effect is just what should be produced. Such is 
the very essence of characteristic purpose. Not only in 
the private home relation ; but in the public, such a pur- 
pose must exhibit itself, as a real and positive character. 

But, as the purpose and design cannot stand out by 
itself, therefore it is necessary that the purpose shall be 
made up of the manner ; and the Christian household 
must be distinguished as an holy household, not only in 
the object for which they live, but by the manner in 
which they are guided. 



HEABT AND HOME TRUTHS, 157 

Hence, such a Home I should expect to find distinguish- 
ed by a constant and united acknowledgment of its con- 
nection with its God. It is not enough that each individ- 
ual of that household shall personally fulfil that relation to 
God, imphed by his or her Baptismal Covenant; nor that, 
individually, he or she shall endeavor to carry on the soul- 
life, obtained through the Spirit of God ; but, unitedly and 
collectively, as a household, that relation and connection is 
confessed. It forms a common bond of interest, and what- 
ever may be the difference of taste or pursuit in other 
respects, here, and in this, I see them all gathered to a 
common tjentre. Therefore, daily, their collective depend- 
ence upon the Heavenly Father is acknov/ledged. Every 
morning is found to be a cause of united thanksgiving, 
and every evening a period of common confession and 
common praise. I therefore behold each day begun and 
ended, as a family, in approach to the Throne of Grace, 
and in the proclaiming of their purpose and object of life, 
as being the service of God. No excuses of business are 
ever allowed to interfere with this, nor any possible con- 
tingency to interrupt this sacred daily dedication of the 
Home unto the will and worship of the Most High. 

Neither can I fail to notice, that the method of life 
adopted in such a household, would be one constantly pre- 
senting the position in which, all stand personally to the 
Heavenly Father, and the vows and the obligations under 
which they all lie, as expectants of the heavenly Home. 

7 



158 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

I therefore see order and harmony enforced, not simply 
because disorder and contention are commonly thought 
disgraceful ; but because such characteristics are contrary 
to the holy profession of that household. Gentleness and 
love are upheld, not merely from the fact that they are 
beautiful in themselves, but because they are sweetly 
pleasing in the eyes of a loving God, and absolutely essen- 
tial to the possession of a Heavenly Home. Error and 
wrong are corrected or punished, not from the low princi- 
ple of their vexatious character to the head of such an 
household; but upon the solemn ground, that they are 
offensive in the sight of that Holy God, whose will it is 
the great purpose of that Home to perform. 

In this manner, all the members of that household are 
taught to feel that the greatest shame which the}?- can ex- 
perience, is to have offended against God, or to have done 
anything contrary to their Holy profession, as baptized in 
His name. An impression of the ever-present — all-seeing 
Eye — is gained ; and the fact is thus realized, that each 
word and action comes under the notice of the Holy God. 
As a natural consequence, consistency (that blessed 
beauty of a religious profession) sheds its equable light 
•upon this household serving God. 

But, in painting all this to myself, am I not stretching it to 
an unearthly — marvelous — super-sensuous degree of spirit- 
ual exaltation ? I think not. As far as I can see the mattei% 
all that 1 have just been supposing, would arise simply and 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 159 

unavoidably from an active and consistent operation of the 
religious profession of those who may be the heads of such 
a household. Whatever may be striking in its character- 
istics, is only their striking characteristics extended ; and 
the general devotion of such a Home, is only the direct 
in-working of the devotion of its rulers, enlarged by its 
field. Such extension of effect must alway be expected, 
whether for truth or falsehood. Hence, let the head of a 
household be variable and inconsistent in his or her reli- 
gious profession — let a parent be weak or uncertain in the 
prosecution of his or her religious duty, and just so surely 
(unless, by the Providence of God, some other influence be 
exerted,) will that inconsistency be magnified in their 
household ; just so surely will their Home fail in Truth as a 
Christian Home, and be entirely devoid of any distinctive 
feature marking it as a household, fearing God. If a 
parent has now and then fallen into a worldly way of cal- 
culating — if he has here and there yielded to a worldly 
policy — let him not be astonished, in after years, to wake 
up and find, that his Home has lost beyond recall the dis- 
tinctive features of the Christian Home, and that, then, 
the world has by far the greater, if not the entire rule. 

I see then, clearly, the necessity of stamping this char- 
acter upon a Home, by means of a thorough personal con- 
sistency of religious profession. My religious belief must 
be a principle of life extending to my household. If I have 
embraced the Truth of Christ to the effect of a living 



160 HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 

union with Him, I must make that Truth the principle of 
my Home, in all its vitality. Principle, did I say ? What 
an important word ! There is religious feeling common 
enough; but, alas ! it is wrongly called leWgioxi^ principle. 
That only can be a principle, with me, which goes to the 
very root of all my feeliDgs and actions, and leads to the 
unflinching consistency between what I do, and what I 
profess to do. Therefore, when I profess in the Holy 
Eucharistic Sacrifice, to offer and present myself, my body 
and soul, to be a holy and living sacrifice unto God, 
true principle would lead me to yield up everything really 
unto Him, and be willing to sacrifice any temporal benefit, 
in order to obtain the benediction of such Truth in my 
Home. If this were alway done, and if worldly consider- 
ations, and prudential calculations were utterly thrown 
out — its standards of appearances, or gauges of customs, 
were unvariably rejected — how much more common 
would become that greatest of blessings. Home Truth, the 
distinctive feature of a household serving God. 

And yet, if I were to urge this upon the attention of 
Christian parents, what w^ould be the probable reply ? 
Why, this ; that their Home is their own, and under their 
own control ; that it is their personal concern to care how 
it is guided, and that others are not concerned in it. 
What a grave mistake I What a grievous error ! Is a 
man's household his peculiar property ? No ! not if he 
has learned the Truth as it is in Jesus — not if he has, 



HEAET AND HOME TEUTHS. » 161 

by baptism, put on Christ — not if he belongs to the com- 
pany of God's faithful people. It is by such profession 
made God's household, and he is open to the responsibility 
and duty of showing it as such. By membership with the 
Church, he and his are pledged to present those marks 
and distinctive features, which must constitute the Truth 
of his Christian Home. He is, therefore, responsible to 
the Church, and those composing her body, for this duty, 
and if he fail in it, he is defrauding her of her honor, and 
is responsible to her for the wrong. 

But here the question arises to my mind, am I not lend- 
ing to this point too great an importance, and attaching to 
it a value beyond what it will really bear ? Is it really so 
intensely necessary that a distinctive religious character 
should be given to the Home ? When I consider how fear- 
fully large is the circle affected by a household, and what 
an incalculable amount of good or evil may result from 
one rightly or wrongly directed Home ; I feel assured that 
it is necessary, and that I have not over-estimated its 
value. It is not a matter which may be allowed to adjust 
itself to its own position, or to follow the casual leading of 
circumstances. As I look around me in memory, and as I 
call up the events of past years, cannot I number many 
Christian parents who have had cause, in after life, to be- 
wail their neglect of duty in their household, and the un- 
certain, indistinct nature of their religious guidance of the 
Home ? Alas ! how many souls have been lost — lives 



162 4 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

ruined — hearts broken — homes shattered ; all from the un 
intentional neglect of the Christian character in the Home. 
Cannot I put my hand to-night on some individuals going 
the downward road to all rain and shame ; whose course 
is the anguish unutterable of their parents' heart ; and yet 
whose first cause of error was the want of religious cha- 
racter in the Home ? Not want of religious character in 
theparents ! No ! not that ; but failure of consistency in 
that religion, from which resulted want of a clear, decided 
religious Truth in the Home. Yes, indeed, I am satisfied of 
this. It must be either one thing or the other. If a house- 
hold is not marked clearly, boldly, and evidently, both in 
purpose and manner, by an unswerving, consistent, and 
Christian principle, so that the Truth of God shines on all 
its governing ; why, then, it is, it must be, a false Home, 
and can never, never lead to that eternal and last Home 
which is in the presence of God ! 



SOLILOQUY III. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE HOME. 

But, if it is marked, I say to myself — supposing that 
clearly and distinctly the features of a Christian Home are 
impressed — what then shall I find to be its further organiza- 
tion ? How shall I see the working of that Truth mani- 
fested ? This is a grave consideration ; for the position of 
the head of a family is one replete with responsibility and 
care ; and that responsibility must be met in all its fullness. 

Yes, it is a solemn position to be the head of a house- 
hold. To be chief among a small band of Christians, who 
look up to you for guidance, counsel, and direction ; who 
regard your words with deference ; and who, uncon- 
sciously both to themselves and you, take their tone of 
thought and feeling from that which you cultivate. This 
is, indeed, a solemn position ; and if you are by profession 
a disciple of Christ, how much is that solemnity en- 
hanced ? There is no such thing as a private Christian. 
All men are mysteriously linked together by the bond of 
influence ; and, if we do good to none, we are doing 
Ijarm to some. Especially is this true of the Home ; for 



164 HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 

there you who are the head, must find yourself the leader. 
Your views, your feelings, your habits, will necessarily 
stamp themselves upon all around ; and, increasing every 
day, you will find your words and actions producing a har- 
vest, which no after tears can wash away, even should you 
desire it. 

Then, it is most important that the daily endeavor shall 
be to guide oneself aright ; and, by personal earnestness, 
sincerity, and consistency, to give that tone to the Home 
which shall result in an organization suitable to serving 
God. 

I suppose the outline of such an organization will be 
correctly traced, if I place family prayer, benediction of 
food, united and regular attendance upon the means of 
grace in the House of God, as the more noticeable points 
before my mind. These, certainly, are absolutely essen- 
tial to the Trutli of a Christian Home, and constitute the 
more evident of its distinctive features. No Home which 
lacks these, can be, I am persuaded, truly called a Chris- 
tian one. 

For, as T come to examine closer into the matter, I see 
that these acts make up the evidences of corporate unity. 
It is only by its associative character that we recog- 
nize a household at all. The tokens of a Home and 
its peculiarities are, in a corporate sense, that all are 
guided by one head — lodge beneath one roof- — eat at the 
same board. A family is evidenced as such, when, at the 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 165 

conclusion of day, they severally retire to rest beneath the 
same roof, or when, in the morning, they assemble to com- 
mence another day of mutual labor or enjoyment. It is, 
therefore, in the manner in which this is done, that the 
Christian stamp can be given. If the morning union or 
the night separation be a period unhallowed by any reli- 
gious thought, unconsecrated by any sacredact — such a 
household is only a heathen or worldly one, with an un- 
recognized God, an unacknowledged King. It matters not 
what I may find individuals in that household doing or 
feeling. If I see many or most of them kneel, night and 
morning, in personal petition before their God, I cannot yet, 
for that, call such a Christian household. There may be 
Christians in it ; but, as a family — in their corporate rela- 
tion as a small community — there is no, Divine Truth dis- 
cernible ; they are godless and unsanctified, possessing no 
religious character, and devoid of any distinct feature of 
Christian life. 

I would, therefore, consider family prayer as the first 
great and unavoidable necessity to the true organization of 
a Home. Prayer to God night and morning of every day, 
irrespective of what are commonly called hindrances. 
Prayer once a week will not do ; united prayer now and 
then will not accomplish it. The devotion must sanctify 
all the social relation, in its continuous action. It must be 
the fixed, invariable habit of the Home, one and all, to 
come before God, night and morning, as a household, to 

7* 



166 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

acknowledge His mercy, to implore His blessing, and to 
ask His care. Excuses of business, or of conflicting 
claims, are nothing but excuses, and avoided as such ; 
never being permitted to interrupt that solemn duty. By 
this means every day is in some sort hallowed and sancti- 
fied. The regular morning and evening devotion testifies 
that in that Home God is confessed — His name honored — 
His will sought. All belonging to it are thus accustomed 
to bring the thoughts as well as the deeds of each day be- 
fore the Almighty King, and are necessarily reminded that 
their only object in life is, to serve their God — to glorify 
their Maker ; and that their present Home is but a type of 
that to come — a resting-place for a little season, prepara- 
tory to an eternal rest. 

But how shall this family devotion be conducted? By 
one or other of the heads of the household, unless the 
Church of God offer to the great family of her children the 
means of daily worship in the sanctuary. Either the father 
or mother, as the Providence of God shall direct, should 
assemble the members of the family, and lead the devotion 
of all, in their acknowledgment of God ; and thus enable 
the younger portion of that community to grow up in the 
fixed habit and enjoyment of religious communion — of 
regular daily intercourse with God ; and have clear, ever- 
present appreciation of their duty toward Him ? 

The next point which presents itself to my mind, as 
tending to the religious organization of the Home, is the 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. l67 

habit of invoking the Divine blessing upon food partaken. 
We are told by an Apostle, that whether we eat or drink, 
we are to do all to the glory of God ; and among the asso- 
ciated acts of the household may be justly reckoned as 
prominent, assembling at stated periods to partake of com- 
mon nourishment. At such time, I cannot understand 
how any truly Christian heart would forget the plain duty 
of recognizing the Hand from which he receives every 
mercy. I know I would turn away with displeasure from 
the greediness of a child, who should eagerl}^ and thank- 
lessly seek to devour what I might bestow upon him ; and 
yet, are we not all " children of God, by faith in Christ 
Jesus ?" * or is it not the fact, that by a Christian profes- 
sion, we ackowledge our food to be as fully and directly 
the gift of God in His Providence, as though it were ten- 
dered in His Person ? I am sure, while reflecting upon 
this, that it is a point of more importance than is generally 
supposed, and that it is too sadly neglected in so-called 
Christian Homes. I know very many heads of families, 
who are deeply in earnest in their religious profession, and 
yet wholly neglect this habit for their Homes. They 
erroneously suppose it something trifling or insignificant. 
It assuredly is not. Ingratitude is the basest of emotions 
for a Christian to permit ; and such is the feeling nour- 
ished by an unacknowledged reception of food from God. 
For this cause, it i? the sacred duty of the head of the 

* Gal.iii.36 



168 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

household, to keep up carefully the habit of blessing the 
food, by thanking God for its bestowal, and thus enable all 
the family, unitedly, to acknowledge that they believe and 
feel, that " of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all 
things."* 

The third point which I determined to consider, as one of 
the greatest distinctions of the true Home,' was the ob- 
servance of tlie day of the Lord as a period of sacred 
rest, as well as spiritual growth ; by attending upon the 
worship of the Sanctuary. 

" Keeping Sunday," as it is termed, is not at all what 1 
have in my mind. I may find thousands of families who 
" keep Sunday," to whom the great principle of the Chris- 
tian household is yet one utterly strange. With these 
(and how easily I can point them out !) keeping Sunday 
is the necessary — the unavoidable cessation of their cares 
or their amusements, as the case may be. It is an impera- 
tive, but unwelcome, break in the career of their gains, 
the pursuit of their pleasures. Three powerful influences 
compel them to this result ; and decency, habit, and 
fashion, lead them to require in their Homes, the observ- 
ance of that day, as a cessation from their ordinary open 
prosecution of business, and, perhaps, even the attendance 
once a day upon some place of public worship. And yet, 
what is all the while the feeling of the household ? Ah ! 
have I not seen it too often ? Have I not again and again 

* Rp«i. xi. 36. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 16!^ 

beheld the indubitable manifestation in that Home, of a 
kind of fretful, impatient idleness, pervading all ; wishing 
the day past, and yet not wishing, positively, to desecrate 
it— all the ordinary train of thought and feeling indulged— 
the conversation, the reading, the reflections being all of 
the same tone as marks the daily life. If you are 
domesticated there, you will hear all the topics of the daily 
business, planned and replanned ; children and parents dis- 
cussing fully their ordinary avocations. If you drop in as 
a friend, the daily news— the fluctuations of business — the 
prospects of markets — the probabilities of times— -are all 
canvassed as fully, and far more leisurely, than on v\^eek- 
days ; and hence the pervading atmosphere of such a Sun- 
day-keeping Home is, /notwithstanding, of the earth, 
earthy. 

How diflerent is this from the true Home which I am 
now seeking to make clear to myself. In it I would find 
the heads of the household delighting in the anticipation 
of the day of the Lord as a dear period of rest, type be- 
low of the Heaven above. They look upon that day as a 
sacred season of soul-delight. In their Home, with the 
closing in of the week-day night, are laid by all cares or 
anxieties which are of a purely worldly character. It is 
their delight to feel that, for one day, earth may be forgot- 
ten, and that their business toil may properly be thrust 
from their minds. This, they endeavor to do themselves, 
and to have done by others. Ordinary worldly topics 



170 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

are avoided. Religious themes — the interests of the 
Church — the concerns of the House of God — the progress 
of the Gospel of Jesus — the growth in their own neigh- 
borhood, of the profession and practice of religion, afford 
tlie leading subjects of that day. If friends come in and 
introduce the topic of business and its claims, it is drop- 
ped as soon as possible, and more congenial subjects are 
introduced. Gladness and happiness beam on every face in 
the enjoyment of the truest rest that the soul can receive ; 
and while every worldly care is determinately excluded — ■ 
every sordid desire crushed — the place is supplied with 
other and sweeter objects of interest connected with the 
worship or service of God. Thus every member of that 
.household is led to feel that the Lord's Day is a holy day — 
a day of rest and peace to soul and body. 

Oh ! how deeply do they err who suppose that their 
Home is a true and Christian one, because they "keep 
Sunday," all the time running contrary to the plainest re- 
quisition. Those who allow themselves to make of the Sun- 
day, a convenient time of business retrospect — who talk in 
their Homes, to their children as well as their neighbors, on 
the day of God, concerning all their week-time cares, and 
take that opportunity to discuss the prospects of their farm — 
their store — or their merchandize — thus- permitting their 
Home to be polluted on that holy day with the earthly 
taint which God has forbidden. 

It is by means, such as these, that the organization of 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 171 

the Home can be religiously effected. Not that I suppose 
this to be all that is necessary to its full government as a 
religious community ; but that I believe if these greater 
features are thus boldly presented as sacred Truths, all 
the lesser ones will fall into their proper manner, in their 
various ramifications. Any way I am sure, that if I in 
my Home fail to establish these greater principles of or- 
ganization, as an agreement to the Divine Will, all my per- 
sonal efforts will be next to worthless. I clearly see that 
if there is to be religious Truth in the Home, there must 
be a distinct character, a marked separation, between such 
a Home, and that which is purely a worldly one. This 
can be done only by making the ruling influence the will 
of God, and the standard of all habits and customs, the 
showing forth His glory. If, therefore, morning and even- 
ing, the sacrifice of prayer shall ascend unto the Majesty 
on High — if at every meal the goodness of the Giver be 
earnestly acknowledged — if each Sunday be truly set apart 
for God, and not a worldly thought encouraged to dwell 
in the hearts of its members, but the worship and praise 
of God be the delight of the day; then, indeed, I hesi- 
tate not to affirm — such a Home does possess the Truth of 
God — the stamp of His own will be fixed upon that house- 
hold, and a great gulf set between its life and that of the 
worldly Home. 

And here I see another point, the unavoidable conse- 



^2 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS; 

quence of the former. Such a Home will never be defiled 
by the society, or the folly of the world. I know it is, to 
many persons — rightly meaning persons, too — a hard point 
to settle what society they shall encourage, what com- 
pany keep. Indeed I have heard such persons say, that 
it was impossible, without rudeness and incivility, to pre- 
vent altogether the association with worldly and worthless 
persons. Here I see the answer. Such a course as I 
have just supposed to myself, would be a self- regulator to 
the associates of the Home. The cause of the trouble to 
the persons, whom I have in my mind, I very much sus- 
pect to be, want of Christian organization in their Home. 
If the true stamp were given to it as being God's own, the 
vain— the . trifling— the giddy — the time-serving of earth 
would soon, of themselves, flee away. There would be no 
need of any offence or discourtesy to be shown to any 
brought in contact with their Home, even though worldly 
and irreligious in their character. The truest urbanity 
may be extended to them, and yet, if they were firm and 
consistent, in carrying out the Christian government of 
their Home — -never hindered in presenting its distinctive 
features — it would be rendered so distasteful to the feel- 
ings of the worldly, that they would soon cease to mar its 
peace. There is no repulsion more real than that which 
exists between the deep, abiding, faith and love of Christ, 
and the love and relish of the world. As it was the Ian- 



HEAKT AND HOJVIE TRUTHS. 173 

guage of the demoniacs to Jesus,* " "What have we to do 
with Thee ?" so it is yet the language of the world, unto the 
true followers of Jesus ; and I am persuaded, that who- 
ever will be firm and consistent in carrying out the dis- 
tinctive characteristics of the Christian Home — allow no 
associations, or no society to prevent the observance of 
God's praise and glory, so will the company they keep, the 
society they enjoy, purge itself, and make itself fit and meet 
for the household of the children of God ! 

And blessed — blessed, I say to myself, as I look at this ; 
thrice blessed, the Home where is shrined such religious 
Truth. How calm its life ! How sweet its associations! 
How refined its love ! Even were there no hope but in 
time, it were worthy of the cultivation. But when 1 con- 
sider Eternity — when I look forward to the white Throne, 
and Him that sitteth thereon — when I glance at the grave, 
and beyond the grave, the judgment — and after that, at 
the Home, which must be one of two, forever — oh ! then 
— how blessed looks this picture — how precious this prepa- 
ration for immortality ! 

"Holy Father!" I cry, v/ith the earnest longing of an 
overfilled heart, " let this be the Truth of my Home ! 
Give me the Hght to see, and the power to form such a 
sacred reality in that type of heaven which Thy Provi- 
dence has placed in my grasp ! Oh ! may those loved 

* Matth. viii. 29. 



174 HEAKT AND HOME TKUTHS. 

ones (whose voices are even nov/ ringing in my ear) be 
partakers of this heavenly Truth ; and may they be so 
guided in Thy love and fear, that they may be able at last 
to say, " Blessed are the people who are, in such case ; 
yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their 
God,*" for they are partakers of the Eternal Home ! 

* PsL cxliv. 15. 



SOLILOQUY IV 



CHILDREN OF THE HOME. 

Childhood ! Happy childhood ! Pare childhood ! — as 
far as actual guilt is concerned. What a joy and gladness 
to the parent's heart ! How inexpressibly dear the young 
being unfolding at our side ! Well, indeed, may it be 
said, " a babe in a house is a well-spring of joy ;" and 
rarely do we find that its sparkling waters of delight are 
neglected or contemned. 

And yet, I sometimes think, the possession is a fearful 
joy. It is not an untroubled gift. No blessing of this pre- 
carious earth is nearly so precarious as the blessing in a 
child. It may be the sweetest, purest joy that this world 
can know; and it may be the keenest anguish that the heart 
can bear. The bitterest tears I have ever seen shed have 
been those that a child had caused. In the gift of an in- 
fant, it well becomes a parent to rejoice only with trem-. 
bling. Who knows what it is to be, O parent ! Whe- 
ther thy bitter woe, or thy great happiness, thou canst 
not tell ; and whether it shall be thy lot to weep over it as 
a lost, ruined spirit, or to hail it as the brightest gem 



176 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

among the jewels of God in the heavenly Home — this is 
only known to Him to whom the future is the past. 

For this cause, J feel it is a fearful thing to be a parent, 
even on the selfish principle of looking only at my own 
comfort or happiness ; it may so mucb. affect my own 
after peace. But beyond this, when I come to look at the 
child — when I consider how greatly his well-doing and 
well-being lie bound up in my hand ; and realize what a 
fearful responsibility rests upon me to secure for my child 
its eternal as well as temporal happiness; I hardly know 
whether to lament or rejoice that, in the Providence of 
God, I am thus a parent. 

It must, therefore, be to me a point of deep solicitude, 
how I can bring the Truth of God to bear upon my child ; 
for, as I feel that Truth can alone be to him the " way and 
the life," I must' hope and pray, and strive to train bim up 
in the habits of a holy Home, by the inculcation of such 
Truth as may, from his first Home, fix the outline of his 
second, and be the guarantee of his third, for everlasting 
joy. How^ can this be done ? What are the steps by 
which the Christian organization of my Home shall be 
brought to bear upon the personal life of my child, and the 
new life of his Baptismal covenant be so fostered and nur- 
tured as to become a likeness of the heavenly child ? 

I must first remember that my child is, from myself, an 
inheritor of a nature vitiated and depraved. Dear, sweet, 
pure, as that little infant looks to my loving eye, I must not 



HEAKT AND HOME TRUTHS. 177 

forget that there lie hidden the seeds of evil and of sin, I 
must not yield to a blind affection, an overweening love, 
and think that all it may do will be good, and all it may be 
shall be right. Alas— no ! — I must nerve myself to look 
for and expect development of sin. Let a man's theory 
be what it may concerning original sin, he cannot deny 
the existence and growth of decidedly disagreeable emo- 
tions in the childish breast. No parental fondness can hide, 
nor any love-blindness cover, the birth, growth, and ma- 
turing of resisting wills and contending passions, which 
mc??/ result in a foul depravity. Birth, rank, and position 
have no necessary connection with this. It is independent 
of all. The son of the prince may be as depraved as the 
son of the beggar at his door. Circumstances only rule by 
educational differences. The capability of such evil is in 
every heart ; and thus sweet infancy is ever open to the 
danger of a blight. Doubtless, some more than others, in- 
asmuch as by constitutional strength of will or animal pas- 
sion, there is greater or less tendency toward the evil 
working of such tempers. Yet none are exempt, none 
wholly free ; and wherever a parent can say that his child 
sometimes resists his will, or displays anger, or exhibits 
petulance ; (and who must not ?) there must a parent ac- 
knowledge the danger of depravity. Wherever a parent 
sees deceit, and combativeness, and destructiveness 
evinced ; (and who does not ?) there must the parent ac- 
knowledge the liability to an excess of that evil. 



178 HEARO: AND HOME TSUl'HS. 

Hence I must not yield to a blind fondness, tempting me 
to think the best of all that may ensue, and dream that 
because it is my child, it is therefore likely to be happy or 
good. Believing that it is liable to error and to sin, I 
must feel that all I can do will be too little to expend in its 
training and guidance, and a solemn realization of my re* 
sponsibihty connected with it. 

Here, then, I have brought home to me the importance 
of the paternal and maternal relation. It is a high and 
holy position. I, as a parent, am in the place of God to 
my child, and represent Him. The Almighty Father has 
seen fit to delegate to me the authority belonging to Him- 
self; and I stand before my family in the same position that 
God stands to His Household, the Church. I am its head. 
My word, my will, my wish, become to it a law, even as 
God's word and will is a law unto His Church, As I 
think of this, how fearful does my position appear. I can- 
not see my charge and responsibility as the mere accident 
of the social relation, (which, indeed, so many seem to 
consider it) — one easily discharged and soon fulfilled. It 
is not so. My household and Home is given as an emblem 
of the spiritual household ; and therefore my relation to 
the children under my care is a sacred one, and based 
upon a higher foundation than any mere. social authority. 
God gives me to them to represent Him. They will and 
should look up to me as the pattern of the loveliest and 
the best ; and they cannot but hang upon my word as the 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 179 

sentence of their pleasures and their cares. Standing thus 
in the stead of God, oh ! what justice, what Truth, what 
firmness should they see in me, that so, through me, they 
may be led up to the Almighty Father ! Most assuredly ; 
for with what face can a man tell his child of a Holy God, 
a Great Universal Father, who is to all men what he 
himself is to his child — and tell him also, that that God is 
holy, just, true, loving, merciful — ^when, at the same time, 
he, the earthly father, is not holy, nor just, nor true, nor 
loving ? No, indeed ; if I desire to lead my child unto a 
deep reverence for the Great Father, that reverence must, 
I feel assured, begin with me. The child must have the 
symbol which God has provided ; and, through the excel- 
lence and integrity, the truth and love of his earthly 
father, be able to form some conception how greatly goodj 
holy, and loving is the Father in heaven. 

Nor is this solemn responsibility at all lightened, to any 
reflecting parent, when he considers how much of his chil- 
dren's future is positively committed as a solemn trust 
unto him. We do not think of this sufficiently. We are 
not apt, as parents, to face the truth, and see how plastic 
a material is placed in our hands. And yet, who does 
not know the facts of the case ? We know that it is in 
our power to trifle with both the temporal and spiritual in- 
terests of our children ; and that, in the ordinary course of 
Providence, a man may allow his child to grow up mea- 
surably, either a knave or a fool. Hence, to the parent is 



180 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

given an awful charge ! Immortal souls hang upon them 
for the obtaining of means which may work out their sai- 
vation, by teaching them the path which leads to that 
blessed result. So, too, is this charge peculiarly their own. 
None can take it up for them; to none can they make it 
over. No man can make agreement with others for their 
children. "It costs more to redeem their souls; so that 
they must let that alone forever."* I may, indeed, place my 
children under the care of others ; I may secure for them 
good, faithful, able teachers ; I may place them in schools 
which I believe to be well conducted ; and yet, none of 
these can assume the fearful responsibility, to me, of 
guiding my children onward, in heart and mind, to their 
Heavenly Home. It will not suffice for me to turn them 
over to judicious instructors or prudent friends, and then, 
quietly folding my hands, to rest content. No. Upon me 
alone does God place the responsibility ; and I only can 
bear it. Let me be content so to do, and be willing to 
watch and pray; hoping in my children's future, the ex- 
ceeding great reward. 

Well ! After all this ; believing that I am fully pene- 
trated with the sense of the danger to my child and the 
duty of myself, what is the next step toward the govern 
ment of my Home, m accordance with the will of God, 
and in resemblance to that Heavenly Home, of which I 
hope, one day, to become an inhabitant ? 

* Psalm, xlix. 7. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS, 181 

Obedience. Strict, uncompromising, constant obedience, 
I must make the foundation of my Home. 

In Heaven — the will of God is perfectly done. The 
angelic beings, in their beautiful order, do alway and in- 
stantly wait upon His commands. So likewise does He 
intend that it shall be upon earth, and He demands of 
His children, a full implicit obedience. It is not enough 
that we recognize God to be our Father ; we must ohe'i/ 
Him, and so He teaches us to pray for His Church, that it 
may do His will here, with a resemblance to that obedience 
in which His will is done in Heaven. If such be the 
character of the Household of God, like it must be the 
character of my Christian Home. I must require, and I 
must enforce an obedience ready and implicit. My child 
must learn to renounce his own will ; he must learn to 
yield and submit, and in every case I must enforce such 
submission. 

I cannot forget that I am a Christian, setting before my- 
self Jesus, the ¥^ay. Truth, and Life, and only seeking for 
my child a place and fitness for the Heavenly-Home, and 
that, like the mother of Zebedee's children, all I ask is, 
that my children be partakers of Christ's Heavenly King- 
dom. Therefore, I must do everything possible for their 
spiritual good, and with a single eye to that. Now, it may 
be a great deal easier — it is a great deal easier — -to allow a 
a child to take his own way, and to offer no opposition or 
remonstrance ; but it is not right. I know, as my children 

8 



182 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

grow older, and come to act for themselves, if they are to 
be children of God, they must learn to give up their owli 
will, to renounce self, to submit their wishes unto the will 
of their God ; and knowing this, I am bound to tea'ch 
them, at the earliest hour, such subjection, in order that 
they may learn, through the earthly, to attain the Heaven- 
ly ; gaining, by obedience to their earthly parents in their 
youth, such a submissive — yielding— self-renouncing tem- 
per, as can alone make them in advanced years, like little 
children in the Kingdom of God. 

The obedience, therefore, which I shall exact from my 
child, must be a thorough obedience, unto me, as his 
parent. Because I am, what I am to him, i. e., one stand- 
ing in the stead of God. I wish him to learn to obey me 
under the consciousness that, in so doing, he obeys the 
Great Father above. I would have him learn (as soon as 
may be) that in ready and glad submission to my com- 
mands, he really gives honor unto his Father in Heaven, 
and that just such obedience as that [Father requires of 
me, I must require of him ; and that, in learning to yield 
unto me, simply because it is my will, he can best learn 
(and by the most happy training) that suppleness of will^ 
fitting him to become a Child of God. 

Here it is, I see, that the majority of even Christian pa- 
rents are apt to fail, and lose the Truth of the Christian 
Home. They are apt to make this point one of mere feel- 
ing. If disobedience occasions annoyance or inconve- 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 183 

nience, then it is very sharply rebuked ; sometimes very 
severely punished. Yet, perhaps, an hundred times, where 
disobedience is not an inconvenience, or does not person- 
ally annoy them, it may go on unrebuked, even unremark- 
ed. In many things where their command is issued, 
or their prohibition uttered, they do not concern them- 
selves to see whether or not they are obeyed. Such a 
course cannot be in agreement with the solemn duty bind- 
ing upon a parent, spiritually considered. Such a house- 
hold possesses not the Truth of the Heavenly One. The 
parent must make this obedience a matter of duty to him- 
self, as well as the child ; and labor, by frequent and earnest 
teachings, to impress upon the mind of his child, that in 
order to become obedient to God, it is necessary that he 
should first learn obedience to his earthly parent ; thus fol- 
lowing the example of Christ.* 

This leads me necessarily to the next point in the gov- 
ernment of the true Home, being one naturally suggested 
by that which I have just been considering ; and that is, 
the principle of Faith, to be there cultivated. I know 
that it does not much look as though this could be opera- 
tive, temporally ; and yet when we remember that Faith 
is the most important bond of union in the Household of 
God, and that we are told, that without " Faith, it is im- 
possible to please Him,"t we may be sure that there is 
some place for it in the Home. 

* Heb. V. 8. t Heb. xi. 6. 



184 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

The Faith, then, which 1 look for in my children, is such 
trust and reliance upon my word, as shall lead to that 
unquestioning obedience which I desire. It is the true 
origin of that virtue. My children must be taught to re- 
ly entirely upon my direction or assertion. What I think 
best, they 'must learn to believe so; what I judge right, 
they must desire to embrace. To trust my love and jus- 
tice — kindness and wisdom, unwaveringly, . and without 
delay. Not to reason upon my commands, or seek cause 
in my directions. Now it oftentimes happens that a quick- 
minded child may demand reason or cause, for such and 
such a command, or else may show hesitation and distrust 
regarding the father's care and kindness ; and, it often 
happens, too, that parents are pleased with such indica- 
tions of quickness of intellect, and by yielding to such 
demands, and showing cause, giving reason, they under- 
mine the principle of Faith toward themselves, in their 
children. Such parents may be sure that the hesitating, 
carping child will make the headstrong, disobedient youth, 
and, finally (but for some interposition of Divine mercy) 
the Atheistical and rebellious adult. 

But is this right ? Am not I mistaken — and am not I 
going too far, making a mere machine of my child — a 
mental slave of its moral being ? Is its reason, or its un- 
derstanding, never to be satisfied ? That would, indeed, 
be a mistake. If I failed in such cultivation of the intel- 
lect, I should be, indeed, at fault. I may, and even must, 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 185 

often show mj children the reason of their obedience. 
After I have secured the prompt submission of the will, 
then enlighten the understanding ; with affection and pa- 
tience point out how much better for their comfort the 
acts which I direct, have proved, and show in all its force 
the reason, which led me to what I commanded. This 
occasionally done, with judicious guidance, will strengthen 
the principle of trusting Faith at the issuing of the com- 
mand, as being a full, trusting, while yet intellectual 
obedience. 

Neither will it be sufficient for me to rest here, and con- 
tent with having obtained for myself a yielding Faith, to 
carry it no further. I ought to strive vigorously to a 
spiritual bearing. Forasmuch as I, by my profession, de- 
clare I walk "by Faith, and not by sight," so must I labor 
to train my household to do. I must instruct them to " set 
their affections on things above." By the help of the 
Holy Spirit of God, I must impress upon their minds the 
supreme importance of spiritual above temporal concerns, 
and the fearful loss they would sustain, should they "gain 
the whole world and lose their own souls." * I must teach 
them (that lesson, alas ! so hard to the natural heart) to 
" count all things but loss, so that they may win Christ, 
and be found in Him."t Above all, I must watch that my 
example may run along with my precept, and that they 
may see that I myself do really live by " Faith of the 

* Matt. xvi. 26. t Phil. iii. 8. 



186 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

Son of God," * and " looking for a city which hath founda- 
tions, whose builder and maker is GoD."f 

Oh ! my heart, look well at this solemn duty ! Oh ! my 
soul, consider prayerfully this sacred charge, as solemn to 
me as was the charge given to the leader of the Children of 
Israel. " See that thou make all things according to the pat- 
tern showed thee in the Mount.''J Thus am / bound to 
make my household a resemblance unto the Heavenly Jeru- 
salem ; and pattern my family according to the order of 
those inheriting the holy mountain of theLoRD. And as 
1 see, with so sure a prescience, the temptations of the 
world spread out before them, and all the pleasures and 
cares which will assail their hearts, together with the in- 
sidious efforts of their adversary to occupy their souls with 
earth, and give it the first place — oh ! how earnestly must 
I cry to my GoD for strength to combat all of these, for 
them ; and teach them, as the wise man so beautifully ex- 
presses it ; '•' first of all to know the Lord and fear Him, 
for the love of the Lord passeth all things for illumination, 
and the fear of Him is the beginning of His love, and 
Faith is the beginning of cleaving unto Him."§ 

After Faith, cometh Love, as necessary to be cultivated 
among the children of a Christian Home. 

Much may be said of this pervading spirit, the beauty 
and glory of any Home, even in its lower, sensuous mani- 

* Gal. ii. 20. t Heb. xi. 10. t Heb. viii. 5. 

(5 Eccl. XXV. n. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 187 

festation, as the paternal instinct, or the refinement of a 
sentiment. How much more may be said of that holy in- 
fluence resting upon the earthly household, vvhich is pat- 
terned after the heavenly ; and, where the love of God is 
the union and bond, how great shall be its peace ! 

To obtain the true happiness of the Home, such love 
must be encouraged. The affection of the parent for the 
child must be no merely selfish instinct, as viewing self in 
them ; but they must be loved because their interests are 
dear to the heart. They must be loved for God's sake, 
and to His praise ; and the tenderness which they receive 
must spring from that holy fountain of all love in the 
heart — the love of God there shed abroad. 

Hence I must endeavor to promote the spirit of that love 
among my children. Not content with what may be 
termed a natural affection, I must seek to establish among 
them a closer bond of union, in tlae love of God knitting 
together their feelings and affections. To effect this, the 
habit of censoriousness and fault-finding must be dis- 
couraged ; all bitter speaking, all raillery and ridicule must 
be broken up. Harshness of manner, rudeness of speech 
or of action, I must seek to banish. The tongue of sar- 
casm and the spirit of bitterness, I must be on the watch 
to destroy. Every act of kindness, however small ; every 
token of thoughtful affection, even in trifling things, I 
must prompt and praise ; and thus lead all to feel that the 
sweetest labor in which they can engage is the labor of 



188 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

love — the work of an out-going affection ; and, as a help 
to all this, must I lend the influence of my own example. 
My children should be able to see in me the effect of this 
holy love. They ought to be able to perceive how the 
love of God sanctifies and softens my heart ; and that, con- 
sequently, fault-finding, tale-bearing, evil accusations, have 
no place in me. Even just and worthy blame of others I 
should avoid before them ; more especially any unkind or 
uncharitable tone of remark concerning neighbors, ac- 
quaintances, or relations. Yes ; I must first truly be filled 
with the holy love myself, ere I can successfully teach it to 
my children ; and, forasmuch as I stand to them as the repre- 
sentative of God, my gentleness, patience, and love, must, 
like His, in a degree, be a pattern unto them. I must daily 
tread in my Saviour's steps, that so^ setting Him forward 
in my Home, all jarring and strife, all bickering and dis- 
puting, all wrath and malice, may be eflfectually excluded, 
and the spirit of a holy love bind all in the bond of peace. 
Alas ! in this I find no inconsiderable difficulty. Upon 
this rock how many fair intentions have been shipwrecked! 
Many a parent, meaning rightly by his children, and act- 
ing rightly in their guidance, has yet overthrown all by 
want of consistency in his or her own religious character. 
I have seen it, oft and o'er again. While their precepts were 
wise and good, and their injunction befitting the happiness 
of the Home, their personal religion fell short of that mark, 
and they allowed in themselves many inconsistencies be- 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 189 

tween their profession and their practice. This did not 
escape the eager eyes of the Home circle. None are so 
quick to detect such inconsistencies as the young, for the 
cause that they are not yet Winded by the illusory maxims 
of the world. Can I wonder, then, that these children 
grew up hearing the precepts, but following the opposite 
example ? When they saw those whom they knew to 
have renounced the world by profession, and dedicated 
themselves to the service of God, and declared that they 
sought only the things above : when, I say, they saw these 
absorbed in business — anxious, careful, money-loving, and 
occupied wholly with the things of the world ; can I won- 
der that, secretly, they despised the profession and censured 
the practice — casting to the winds all the holy teaching 
which they may have received ? Oh, no ! When they be- 
held their parents always ready to give the first place to 
their temporal interests, and for it neglecting evident reli- 
gious duty, how could they place any confidence in their as- 
sertion, that they gave themselves up to the service of God, 
and that they desired their children to make such their 
habit ? Children cannot be so easily deceived. Their 
elders we may blind by the habits of the world, or the 
trammels of custom, in which they have, like ourselves, be- 
come involved ; but not so with the young. They make 
no allowances for circumstances ; they form no deductions 
for what may be convenient and pleasant. If we are in- 
consistent, they will see it, and despise both the profession 

8^ 



190 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

and its professors. First then, above and beyond all other 
things, must I seek sincerity and consistency of religious 
life in my own person, if I hope to bring it before my chil- 
dren ; and Faith, Love, and Truth exemplify to them in 
myself, by deed as well as word. 

Another point worthy of consideration, in viewing the 
way by which I may bring my children to "the Truth of a 
holy Home, is the necessity of a habit of close and affec- 
iioiidXQ familiarity with. them. 

I know that perhaps it might seem strange to some, if I 
were to urge this. Who, they would answer, is not in 
such habit ? And yet I really do not think it common ; 
not what I had in mind when I used the word, familiarity, I 
am very sure. How often it is, that parents who believe 
themselves faithful and loving — aye, familiar with their 
children, are almost strangers to their hearts and minds. 
Not strangers in them, but strangers to them. They have 
possession, but not knowledge. They are ignorant of half 
that transpires in these young souls. Necessarily ? No ! 
Intentionally ? No ! Thoughtlessly ? Yes ! — very sadly 
and thoughtlessly. 

It is the duty and necessity of a parent, if he hopes the 
well-being of his offspring, to ponder over, examine, and 
study, the mental, moral and spiritual growth of his child ; 
to observe the effect of daily circumstances upon the 
young heart ; to notice the result of all associations and 
occupations upon the young mind. Everything should be 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 191 

carefully weighed; the slightest indications painfully con- 
sidered. It is only in the tendency of the emotions, feelings, 
and passions, that the progress of soul-life can be under- 
stood ; and to reach this, a close and intimate relation must 
be sustained. For its healthy growth and development, 
a child requires a full-toned sympathy from its parent — 
an identification of its will and desire with theirs — a con- 
formation of its emotions and feelings to theirs. It needs 
the constant promptings of a watchful parent's mind, in its 
spirit-life, while all the passions or workings of its young 
bosom must be sought out with as careful a hand, watched 
with as anxious an eye, as though they were to be the po- 
sitive and entire creation of the parent's will. The tender 
germinating leaves of the mind must be so gently laid and 
directed — the fresh, clasping tendrils of the heart must be 
so softly and slowly twined around holy Truth, that it will 
require many months and years of unceasing care to reach 
such familiarity. The parent must labor with skilful ten- 
derness to become the child's dearest companion and 
guide — the repository of its most hidden wishes — the source 
of all its purest pleasures. Sympathy, association, appre- 
ciation, must be poured out upon it, in order to gain its 
confidence and unburdening affection. 

I feel assured, therefore, that, to establish this intimate 
relation between my children and myself will be the only 
way to guide them into Truth. I must gather them to my 
heart, and tell them much of the blessed love of God ; and, 



192 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

by confidence in this, gain their confidence in return. I 
must let them have a continual consciousness that my eye 
is upon them, and that their religious thoughts and feelings 
are the subjects of my constant, attentive, but loving con- 
sideration. By my tender manner lead them to speak of 
their religious emotions, trials, or temptations ; that so they 
may frequently come to me as their adviser and best friend, 
and delight in this way to speak with me. I must not seal 
my lips to the name of God. I must not shut out from all 
my conversation my holy profession ; but rather hold it up 
as the sweetest topic that my Home can know ; and hence 
exhibit to tbem, in the most beautiful coloring, the Truth 
as it is in Jesus, as their way and their life. By this 
means I may hope to have their hearts laid open to my 
view, and their thoughts or desires to be able to read in 
the glance of an eye. The first risings of temptation or 
perversity, I will be thus enabled, through God's grace, to 
perceive and overthrow ; and out of the sweet garden of 
my Home, to keep plucked the evil weeds of worldhness, 
selfishness, or disobedience. Nor must I forget, in this 
consideration, the great importance of seeking the presence 
of Christ as an abiding friend,* to sanctify this intimate 
relation of my Home. Prayer, earnest and frequent, must 
ascend from its altar. Not only must I pray with my 
children, in the family devotion ; but I must pray for 
them. My whole soul must be poured out, in earnest peti- 

* Luke, xxiv. 29. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 193 

tion to my God and Saviour, that I and mine may be kept 
unspotted from the world ; and, imitating the example of 
my Redeemer, with deep travail of soul, intercede for those 
whom He has given me out of the world, that they may be 
kept in His name. I need not be ashamed of the sometime 
tear which drops from my uplifted eye ; nor need I con- 
sider it a wild enthusiasm prompting the sometime sob 
wringing my bosom. If I feel all my responsibility, and 
all my duty, it can hardly be otherwise ; neither should I 
wish it to be so. 

x\nd have I now completed all which I intended to con- 
sider ? Nearly. There are, indeed, many other lesser 
points which might be largely insisted upon, and which I 
must keep before my mind with a holy carefulness ; and 
yet I think I have now pondered upon all which, in general 
outline, can give the character of religious Truth to the 
Home. At least, all but one — for one still remains for me 
to examine, not perhaps as a special point, but rather as a 
spirit and influence resting upon the whole : I mean, the 
duty of enforcing upon my children a regular observance 
of all the appointments of the great pattern of the 
household, the Church of God ; and a constant, unhesi- 
tating obedience of all her directions. 

To this effect, I must teach them to regard any religious 
duty which' she sets before them as paramount to all other. 
They must obtain the feeling, that pleasure, amusement, or 



194 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

care, should all be set aside at her direction ; and that the 
worship and service of God, whenever His Bride, the 
Church, shall call, should be made their first delight ; not 
simply on the Day of the Lord, but on other days of the 
week. By example and precept, I must induce them to 
realize how, by stealing away from the world, for inter- 
course with God, whether in the closet or the sanctuary, 
we thus live above the world, and are strengthened against 
temptation, and prepared for trial. I desire, therefore, to in- 
fix an early love of Divine worship ; to place it before their 
minds as the highest privilege which they can enjoy this 
side the grave, and the nearest approach to heaven which 
earth can afford. Therefore, I would have them learn to 
make efforts for its attainment ; make self-denial often, to 
secure its privileges at other days besides the Day of the 
Lord. 

And then I would bring them up in a very reverent esti- 
mation of their Baptismal Covenant, and their federal con- 
nection with the great Family of God. I should fre- 
quently talk with them respecting this, their new birth into 
the spiritual world ; endeavoring to impress upon their 
minds the greatness of the blessings to which they are by 
it made inheritors. I would remind them, that they are 
not strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, aliens 
from the promise ; but that really they have, by Baptism, 
put on Christ,* and so belong to Him. Therefore, I would 

* Gal. iii. g7. 



HEAET AND HOME TRUTHS. 195 

urge, how careful they should be to walk answerably to 
then' Christian calling, and as becometh children of God 
I would put it to them, as they grow older, how they 
could hope to receive the blessing of Christ, if, as mem- 
bers of His Church, they did not humbly, faithfully, steadily 
obey Him. 

Then, too, I would keep constantly in their view that 
future to which I hope and expect they would come — ad- 
mission to the blessed Feast of the Bread of Truth, the 
body and blood of Christ ; that time when they should for 
themselves have assumed the fulness of their Baptismal 
pledge. I would hold this before them from tenderest age, 
as a bright and blessed event, to be looked forward to with 
all the longing of their young hearts. 1 would encourage 
them to talk of that happy time when they should be old 
enough and prepared enough, to partake in faith the 
heavenly food : that, like as worldly parents hold before 
their children, and lead them to expect with anxious 
eagerness the time when they may emerge from seclusion 
into the gaiety of the world, and enter upon business, or 
engage in life, or undertake matrimony, — so, my children 
may learn as heavenly children, to look forward to that 
period when they shall emerge from the protecting care of 
a parent's responsibility, and, in the fulness of Christian 
life, enter upon the struggle of Jesus' warfare, and par- 
take all the precious joys of the soul's nourishment, and be 



196 HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 

entirely married unto Christ.* Doing thus, I would hope, 
that, when that time arrived, I could, with a deeply thank- 
ful glow of heart, offer them unto God as willing and 
anxious servants ; and, vi^ith spirits unpolluted by the 
world, render them up into full union with Christ, at the 
wedding feast, as chaste soulsf for His inhabitation. 

Oh, happy hour ! and happy, happy parent shall I then 
become ! Blessed, indeed, in my Home ! Blessed, thrice 
blessed in my heart ! Truth, then, will reign in all ; and 
the peace of heaven shine through that Truth. Happy 
day shall that be, when I so give them up, in soul pure and 
true, unto Christ. Happy beyond any other day, except 
only one — which, if the mysterious Providence of God 
shall call me to behold, shall yet, through the rainbow of 
bitter tears, display the beams of the Sun of Righteous- 
ness, — I mean, the day when I may, perhaps, be called 
upon to give them up unto the last heavenly Home ; they, 
in advance of me, entering on a third, without any trial ot 
a second. Oh ! if I bend over the dying bed of a darhng 
child, and with bleeding heart see reft away from my side 
the sweet one fast dawning into maturity ; still, even then, 
happy shall I be in that dark hour, to feel and know that I 
yield them up to wait for that Eternal Home, fitted in 
spirit by the preparation of a true earthly one ; and that 
they, in body, heart, and mind, have learned to lean upon 

* Rom. vii. 4. t 2 Cor. ii. 2. 



HEART AND HOME TRUTHS. 197 

their God ; and that, consecrated unto Him on earth — 
growing into that life of Christ — when He cometh to 
" bring the sheep of the other fold" " where He is, they 
shall be also."* Sweet comfort, then, will it be, and balm 
more precious than that of Gilead, to my wounded heart ! 

Or if— which I hope His Providence may provide — I am 
called to lie upon a dying bed before that day ; and hear- 
ing by my side the sweet words of an undying affection, 
having gathered to my view the circle of my loved Home ; 
hands ministering to my wants, quickened by a sanctified 
affection ; oh ! then, happy will it be to feel at that dread 
hour, while the world trembles in mine eye, and the faces 
of my children turn to darkness in my vision : happy, then, 
to be able to look upward and cry, (with humble trust in 
Him who first uttered these words) " While I w^as wdth 
them, I kept them in Thy name. Holy Father, keep, 
through Thy own name, those which thou hast given me ; 
for they are Thine /"f 

Is it a dream ? Has it come ? or, is it past ? No : the 
tears I still feel wet upon my cheek, and the breath comes 
thickly in my breast. I had almost thought that hour had 
been reached — the bitterness of death past ; but it is not 
so. I still hear the voices of my children echoing sweetly 
in my ear ; and still I see the swinging of the locust 
boughs over the white-topped graves. Ah ! many a weary 

* John, X. 16 ; and xiv. 3. f John, xvii. 9, 11, 12. 



198 HEART AND HOME TEUTHS. 

day, and, perhaps, long year, must pass, ere that happy 
hour shall come, when I render up my charge, and lay me 
down to rest, waiting for my Eternal Hom.e. Oh ! shall 1 
be faithful through it all ? Shall I, indeed, bring these 
my children through a true Home on earth, to the Truth 
of Home in heaven ? I know not now ; but I will believe. 
To Thee, and with Thee, oh, my God, will I labor ; 
and do Thou give the increase ; for fully do I feel and 
know '^without Thee, I can do nothing/''* 

* John, XV. 5. 



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